


Innocent Until

by assholemurphy



Series: Court of Law [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Journalist!Murphy, M/M, Romance, Smut, Violence, appalling descriptions of journalism, bad descriptions of police business, cop!bellamy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-05-05 04:09:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 60,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14608986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assholemurphy/pseuds/assholemurphy
Summary: (Sequel to Proven Guilty)Bellamy's a cop who got the love of his life falsely arrested, Murphy's a journalist who's just trying to piece his life back together after the aftermath of his ex-boyfriend turned serial killer's killing spree, that he'd ended up in jail for. His relationship with Bellamy died when he locked him away, or at least, he thought it had, but now, two years later, after a chance meeting in a coffee shop, they decide to give it another try. But Bellamy's got a big case that he has to go undercover for, just as his relationship starts going well. Will they last this time around? Will Bellamy survive this case? Will Mbege discreetly poison Bellamy? Maybe, but maybe not.Tags/characters to be added.Sequel toProven Guilty





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, so, I've been gone for a while.... A couple years, actually. Sorry about that. Life sucks, the fandom got toxic, the show got even worse, but I'm back and trying to avoid spoilers while catching up on both the show and all the stories I meant to write but never did. Anyway, this is me, back for good, and this is the too long awaited sequel to Proven Guilty. I'm really sorry about how long it's taken. However, I'm adding in actual smut scenes this time in hopes of making up for it, so, yeah, life.
> 
> I don't know how regularly I'll update, but hopefully once a week or more, since it's summer, but once school comes back, idk. My degree comes first, esp now that I've decided on my major. (Theatre! :D)
> 
> Just a side note: the reason that it says 'chose not to give warnings' is so there's no spoilers or anything. There's no rape or dub con or underage anything, so don't worry about that. It's just to keep certain things spoiler free. If you've got a question about a possible trigger, just ask and I'll let you know if it's in here. Otherwise, I'll stick with my standard trigger set for each chapter should they be there. :) Stay safe, cats!
> 
> Enjoy!

Bellamy tugged nervously on his collar, loosening his tie and popping the first button. He’d already ditched his suit jacket in the back where take out from a nearby Chinese place and a blanket were already resting, just waiting for his date to begin.

He was parked outside Mbege’s place and it was already six forty-five, their movie started at seven and for a moment, he was terrified Murphy had changed his mind. He couldn’t really blame him if he had, after all, the way things had ended the last time they’d had a date was enough to make anyone back out of another one, especially considering how much damage it must have done to the already fragile boy to be locked away after finally getting his life together. Bellamy had been the cause of all of it, too, so the fact that Murphy had even agreed to another date with him in the first place was a miracle, so expecting it to actually happen was asking the universe for too much. Still, Bellamy would wait until six fifty to text him again.

He’d texted him when he’d gotten there at seven forty, which was only a few minutes ago, so maybe he was just being overly anxious. But, honestly, could he be blamed? He was terrified that, if Murphy did show, this whole date would turn out to be a disaster. He’d fuck something up or cross a line or push Murphy too far too fast. Which was why he’d decided to go as slow as he could, so they could take their time and do it right this time around. He was still in love with Murphy, yeah, and Murphy had said he was in love with him, but he was worried that if they rushed into things, they’d flame out or crash and burn and he couldn’t stand the thought of losing Murphy again. This time he was going to do it right. He would take it slow and give time for their feelings to fully develop before they got too deep into this. He owed that to Murphy. He was going to make up for all the damage he had done the last time around. He couldn’t fix Murphy, not completely, but he could be there and show him he was dedicated to making this work, to earning his trust again.

Bellamy sighed in relief when the door to Mbege’s house opened and that familiar mop of too long brown hair came into view. He hadn’t called it off. Bellamy was anxious over nothing. Murphy still wanted him. He was still getting a second chance.

Murphy smiled at him as he opened the door to the car and got in, buckling his seat belt before saying anything. “Sorry, I’m a bit late, I know. I wasn’t sure, uh, just, sorry.”

Murphy had spent the past hour and a half trying to figure out what to wear. What was one supposed to wear on their second date with a man who’d gotten them thrown in prison? He’d been so anxious about making a good second impression that he’d gone through nearly all of his closet and part of Craig’s before settling on a pair of ripped black jeans, tucked into his combat boots, and his leather jacket over a light pink t-shirt that simply said, ‘Eat the Rich.’ It wasn’t exactly spectacular, but he hoped Bellamy wouldn’t mind. He’d seen him in worse and still loved him, so Murphy was pretty sure he wouldn’t care.

Bellamy shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin, “I’d wait on you forever.”

“That’s cheesy as fuck, Bell. Like, that’s next level disgusting,” Murphy snorted.

“But it’s true.”

And it was. Bellamy waited two years, he’d wait all of eternity if it meant Murphy would be his. Yeah, so, he was a little past gone for the guy. Who could blame him, though? Murphy was perfect, well, maybe not, but his imperfections had only ever made Bellamy love him more. “Ready to go?”

“I’d be readier if you’d tell me where we’re going,” Murphy huffed, leaning back in the seat and raising an eyebrow at Bellamy. “I had no idea what to wear.”

“Nope,” Bellamy smirked as he put the car in gear. “And you look fine. Just as beautiful as the day I met you.”

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t think I was beautiful when we met. Actually, I think you had me confused with a bird of prey. One that feasts on the flesh of dead corpses. Vulture, it think it was?” Murphy joked.

“Okay, fine, fair enough. You were still pretty, though. I just wasn’t in the headspace to appreciate it. Now I am.”

“Well, in that case, I’m glad you finally came around to seeing my striking beauty, matched only by my sharp wit and amazing sex skills,” Murphy smirked at him and it made Bellamy’s heart skip a beat. God, how he’d missed that smirk.

“Uh-huh, you think you’re so damn great, don’t you?” Bellamy laughed.

“No, but you do, so it doesn’t matter what I think.” Murphy was under no illusions about himself. In fact, Mbege even went so far as to say he had self-worth issues, but that was beside the point. Murphy didn’t know what Bellamy saw in him, but he was glad he did, because two years without him had been painful and when he’d seen him back in that coffee shop, it was like time stopped. Then he’d just run off and Murphy had to go chase after him because like hell was he letting him walk away again. Murphy had been hurt the first time, he hadn’t been thinking clearly, he’d needed time to himself, but the second time around, he knew exactly what he’d wanted. He’d wanted Bellamy back in his life and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Or, well, he would have, but it would have hurt like hell if he’d had to.

“I think you’re amazing. Your shirt’s a little cannibalistic, but other than that, you look great,” Bellamy told him, turning his eyes back to the road and trying to remember the directions to the theater they were headed to. It had been a while since he’d been there, no point in going to a drive-in movie if you didn’t have anyone to come with you.

“It might be,” Murphy shrugged, looking down at his shirt, then back up at Bellamy. “What about you, huh? Do you own any clothes besides your work clothes?”

“What?” Bellamy frowned, looking at his shirt. It was just a white button up. There wasn’t anything wrong with it. “I look good in these.”

“I know you do, that’s probably why you own fifty of them. But, seriously, I’ve never seen you in anything except work clothes, not even at your house, you just take your jacket off. Do you like, sleep in them, too?”

“No? I have other clothes.” He really did, he just hadn’t worn them around Murphy, yet. They’d only been together for two weeks and most of that was while Bellamy was working or right after he’d gotten off work. “You just haven’t seen them, yet.”

“Well, I look forward to it. It’ll be nice to see you look like something other than a cop for a change. You know, like an actual human being,” Murphy snarked with a smirk.

“And here I thought me looking like a cop played into your issues with authority. You know, _fuck_ the cops and all that,” Bellamy joked.

“I’m not saying I don’t like it, I’m just saying it’d be easier to believe you were a real person if you dressed like one once in a while. Or at least bought a different color shirt.”

“White is professional.”

“And green could be, too. So, could blue. Or hell, pink, even!” Actually, seeing Bellamy in any kind of color would be nice. Aside from his ties, which weren’t really all that creative, he hadn’t seen the man wear any, yet. “I mean, how long have you worn that exact uniform?”

“This exact one? About twelve hours.”

“Asshole, that’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t know, since I made detective?” There wasn’t anything wrong with it. It was professional and easy, and he didn’t have to worry about it clashing with any of his ties. “I do have a black one, though, but that might make me look like an emo prom date.”

“Then wear a blue jacket with it. They make different color jackets, too.”

Bellamy sighed and shook his head, a small grin on his face, “Our first date in two years and you’re already lecturing me.”

“You knew what you signed up for when you asked me out,” Murphy shrugged.

Bellamy just laughed, “Yeah, I did.” He took a hand off the steering wheel and laid it on the console, a silent question to Murphy.

Murphy rolled his eyes and took it, intertwining their fingers. “Then stop fucking complaining.”

Bellamy raised Murphy’s hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it. “I wasn’t complaining.”

“Sure sounded like it.”

“Well, I’m sorry. I could never complain about your presence, even if you do like to complain a lot.”

“There’s a lot to complain about in the world! I mean, just this morning, I went to the store to buy milk with Mbege and this bratty little kid knocked over an entire stand of candy bars just because his mom said he couldn’t have any. Are you telling me that the employee who would have had to clean that up has no right to complain?”

“Would have?”

“Well, I mean, it wasn’t hard to put back together, and the store was packed, so I kinda made Mbege wait ten minutes while I sorted it out and set it back up,” Murphy muttered, looking down.

Bellamy snorted, “And here I thought you liked anarchy.”

“I do! Just not petty bullshit that only hurts other people. Like, if the employee had knocked it over, that would have been fine, because fuck corporations, but it was just some bratty little kid who did it just to destroy something because he was pissed at his mom! What did that solve? His mom wasn’t the one who had to pick it up. She didn’t even apologize, she just walked away, expecting someone else to clean up her brat’s mess. If it had served a purpose or made the world even the slightest bit better, fine, that’s great, but it didn’t. It was childish and rude, and I’ve worked at a grocery store. They don’t get paid enough to deal with that level of bullshit, not in this country. If the kid had been protesting something, like maybe the poor working conditions of cacao farmers, then fine, do as you wish, but he’d just wanted to break something because he was pissed over something petty and childish. And I know, he’s a child, he’s supposed to be childish, but it wasn’t like he was four! He had to have been at least ten! A fucking ten-year-old! He should fucking know better! And why the hell wasn’t he in school? I mean, I get it, it’s government sanctioned brainwashing, but still, if he wants to succeed in life, he needs to go to school, because that stupid piece of fucking paper he gets on graduation day means a hell of a lot to employers, for whatever dumbass reason. It’s ableist as fuck, but it matters to them.”

“Did you even breathe during that rant?” Bellamy asked when Murphy was done.

“No.”

“Maybe you should next time.”

“Maybe you should fuck off,” Murphy huffed, turning to look out the window, obviously pouting.

“Baby, don’t be like that,” Bellamy said, bringing his hand up to kiss his knuckles. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Murphy-”

“Or fuck me, either is acceptable,” Murphy told him, giving him a shit eating grin.

“You fucking little shit,” Bellamy rolled his eyes. It had been too long since he’d had to deal with Murphy’s bullshit and as much as it surprised him, he’d actually missed it.

“Yeah, well, you signed up for it.”

“I don’t remember that being part of the deal.”

“It’s part of the package.”

“The package?” Bellamy asked as they pulled into the driveway to the theater.

“Yeah, you know. Incessant rants, constant lectures, a disregard for safety, both mine and the general public’s, and more bullshit than is tolerable,” Murphy explained. “It’s what you got when you decided to date me.”

“You forgot dashing good looks, brilliant sarcasm, and more creativity and badassery than I thought humanly possible.”

Murphy ducked his head, a blush on his cheeks, “Yeah, that, too, I guess.”

Bellamy squeezed his hand before letting go so he could pull out his wallet and pay the guy at the ticket booth, who raised the bar and let them pass through. “This is it.”

“A drive-in theater?”

“A double feature. Dinner’s in the back. Chinese okay?”

Murphy shook his head with a smile, “You're so cliché.”

“And?”

“I kinda like it,” Murphy admitted as Bellamy pulled to a stop on the grass.

“I also brought a blanket because I can’t cuddle you in the front seat.”

“Are we at the cuddling stage?” Murphy mused.

Bellamy hesitated for a moment, “Are we?”

“Jesus Christ, Bell, I’m fucking with you,” Murphy shook his head and got out of the car.

“Oh, right,” Bellamy nodded, following him out of the car and opening the back to pull out the blanket and food. “Here, hold this. Drinks are still in the car.”

Murphy took the food and watched as Bellamy spread the blanket out in front of the car before walking back and grabbing the drink and setting them down on the blanket’s edge before taking the food and doing the same.

“Now sit.”

“Yes, sir.” Murphy did as instructed and sat down, Bellamy following beside him. He waited until Bellamy has gotten comfortable before leaning against him.

“No need to call me ‘sir,’ Murphy.”

“Fine, _detective,_ ” Murphy purred.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, not that shit again,” Bellamy sighed, exasperated.

“Yeah, well, this time I’m perfectly fine with fixing any problems it might cause,” Murphy told him, reaching for the food and a pair of chopsticks.

Bellamy just shook his head and grabbed for a fork, not wanting to test his ability not to make a fool of himself so early on in their newly recovered relationship.

“So, what are we watching?” Murphy asked.

“I have no idea. I just know movies start at seven and end around eleven-ish.”

Murphy shrugged and turned his attention to the food as the movie began to play. He didn’t recognize it from the opening credits, so maybe it would be interesting.

By the time they’d finished their food, the movie had yet to catch either of their interests, so Bellamy leaned back against the car and wrapped an arm around Murphy, pulling him close and asking, “You said you got you journalism degree? You have any plans now?”

Murphy nodded, “Yeah, kinda. I want to get hired by a respectable paper, not like Alie's crap. Something where I can be far away from crime.” He’d ended up way too close to that, especially since he hadn’t wanted anything to do with it in the first place. Still, he had met Bellamy through it, he just hoped that one day he could say that meeting him made it all worth it. He felt a little guilty for not being able to say it now, but he shoved that aside.

“I'm sorry,” Bellamy told him quietly. He hadn’t meant for any of it to happen. If he could change it, he would. He’d go back and tell Murphy straight up, or just not tell Kane about Murphy at all. There were so many things he would change, but he couldn’t. He could only control the here and now, and he was going to do his damnedest to make that as good for Murphy as he possible could.

“I know.” And he was working on forgiving him. He knew Bellamy hadn’t meant for it to happen. He knew he hadn’t wanted to hurt Murphy. It was just a little hard to get past, that was all, but he was working on it. He still loved Bellamy, he didn’t want to leave him, he wanted this to work, so he was going to try to forgive him as best he could as soon as he could. “What about you, anything new?”

Bellamy thought for a moment. Not much had really changed in his life, except Rosie’s closing. Other than that, well, there was Monroe. “Since we last talked? I got a new partner.”

Murphy perked up at that, curious as to who could put up with Bellamy long enough to be his partner, “Who?”

“Her name's Monroe, she's pretty badass. She keeps me in line.”

“Someone needs to.”

“Hey. That's rude, true, but rude,” Bellamy laughed and pressed a kiss to Murphy’s head.

Murphy tilted his face up and looked at him for a moment before leaning up and pressing a kiss to his lips. He stayed like that for a moment before pulling away, unsure how fast Bellamy wanted to move. If it were up to him, he’d take him right there, in full view of everybody, Murphy didn’t care. Two years was a long time to wait and he wanted to get back to where they’d been, but Bellamy seemed so anxious about the whole thing, so Murphy was going to let him lead.

Bellamy smiled at him and raised a hand to cup his cheek and pull him into another kiss. He wasted no time in deepening it, nipping at Murphy’s bottom lip and darting his tongue inside the second permission was given. They kept on like that for a while, until Bellamy pulled him against him and twisted so he could lay back with Murphy on top of him. It was lazy and slow, but there was passion behind it. Still, Bellamy kept it from going too far. As much as he wanted to just give in, tell Murphy to get in the car and skip the rest of the movie to go back to his place, he didn’t want to rush this. He wanted to do it right.

Finally, they broke the kiss, both of them panting slightly and smiling at each other. Murphy spoke first, “I missed this. Missed you.”

“I missed you, too. And I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Murphy.”

Murphy nodded and kissed him again, chaste and sweet, “I know.” He wasn’t sure what else to say because he couldn’t say he forgave him just yet, he did but he didn’t, not entirely, and he couldn’t say it was okay, because it wasn’t, but he wanted Bellamy to know he wasn’t angry.

Bellamy just ran a hand through Murphy’s hair and down his back, stopping just above his jeans. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” That he could say.

“So, how’ve things been? I know everything kinda fell apart, but you seem to be doing… better?”

“I am. I got my degree, but you know that. I moved in with Craig and Mbege again, so I’ve been living with them since I finished college. Never thought I’d actually go to college, you know? But they helped me, a lot, and somehow I made it through.”

“It’s because you’re brilliant.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“But you are.”

Murphy just smiled and shook his head, if Bellamy wanted to believe that, he could. “And now I’m helping them plan their wedding. It’s in three months and they’re still ironing out the details. They got engaged like, two months ago, but they wanted to do it as fast as they could, so everything’s a bit chaotic.”

“Yeah, I meant to ask about that. I thought they weren't together?”

“Well, about halfway through my first year of college Mbege got over his fear of pushing Craig too far and asked him out, and it was all sunshine and rainbows from then on. I mean, Mbege still swears he's straight, and Craig doesn't want to have sex with anybody, but they do relationship things together, honestly, it's nice, that they're together. They're happy, it's nice.” He'd been rooting for them for years and they'd finally gotten together. “And now they're getting married. They figured since they already live together, pay bills together, and are pretty much already married, they might as well make it official.”

“That makes sense, I think. But, I’m glad they’re happy. They make a cute couple.” He was struck by the realization that they probably still hated him. They had every right to, of course, he couldn’t fault them for it. He just hoped that their opinion of him wouldn’t influence what Murphy thought. But if it did, well, there was nothing he could do about it except do his damnedest to prove to both them and Murphy that he wasn’t going to fuck up again. This time he was going to do things right.

“Yeah, they do. And they’re so happy and in love it’s honestly sickening. I have to leave the house sometimes to get away from it. It’s so much worse than what it was when you met them. They still bicker like a married couple, but well, now that they’re going to be one for real, it’s just insane. I’m happy for them, though. It’s been a long time coming, honestly.”

Bellamy just smiled and tucked a strand of Murphy’s hair behind his ear. He was glad Murphy seemed better, happier, than he had the last time they’d been together. College had been good for him, he seemed more at home in the world. “So, have you been writing still? Even though you don’t have a paper to write for, yet?”

“Yeah, a lot. I mean, first there were assignments, but I realized there was so much going on in the world and I wanted to document it and give my opinion on it, and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it’s damn near impossible for me to shut the hell up, even for a second, so I made a blog,” Murphy told him without taking a breath.

Bellamy chuckled and ran a thumb across his bottom lip as he caught his breath. Murphy smiled down at him and leaned in for another kiss, following Bellamy’s example and keeping it soft and gentle, fighting the urge to put heat behind it. He was going to hate it, but he’d go as slow as Bellamy wanted him to. For as long as he could, anyway.

When they broke, Bellamy asked, “A blog, huh? How’s that working out?”

“It’s going well. I’m surprised at how well, actually. I mean, it’s not as structured as writing for a paper, but I get to cover whatever the hell I feel like covering and I can say whatever I please about it, I don’t have to worry about being politically correct or you know, like, nice about everything.”

“Would have thought you’d be all for political correctness,” Bellamy mused, loving the feeling of having Murphy in his arms. The movie was long forgotten behind him, though he was vaguely aware of the end credits beginning, which meant they had one more movie and then he had to take Murphy home.

“I mean, yeah, sure, when it comes to slurs and things and using people’s proper pronouns and just general respect, but when it comes to being nice and like, editing what I say so it doesn’t offend anyone, I can’t fucking stand it. Somethings should offend you. And somethings need to be said no matter how hard they are to hear. And I really, really like calling the mayor a piece of shit. Actually, I think I use it more than I use his name. In fact, I know I do,” Murphy laughed. “There’s a difference between policing your tone and babying everybody and holding their hand and all that other bullshit and not like, being a racist or homophobic prick, you know? There’s types of political correctness and I’m not going to censor myself just so some shitbag millionaire can read my blog and not get offended. That being said, I have punched someone for calling me a fag. And I’ll probably do so in the future. It’s not that I have a problem with the word, personally, because I don’t give a fuck, it’s that other people do, and other people are nicer than me, so they probably won’t punch them and honestly, sometimes a good right hook is all you need to set someone straight.”

Bellamy nodded, understanding what Murphy was saying. He kept forgetting the ‘punk’ tacked on to the liberal hippie part. “So, you’re a liberal, just not a, I don’t know, what else is there?”

“I’m not a liberal, babe. I’m an anarchist. There’s a difference.”

“And that would be?”

“I’m willing to protest and shit, sure, but I’m also willing to throw bricks through windows and spray paint cop cars. I don’t believe that peaceful protests will achieve everything. I wish they could, but people don’t listen until you threaten the things they love, so if you want to stop the capitalist pigs that run our not so very fine nation, then you gotta threaten their profits. Boycotting is good but lighting a whole department store on fire is better.”

“But if you do that, people won’t have jobs.”

Murphy groaned and dropped his head to Bellamy’s chest. “I know this. I am aware of this. This is a thing that I’m aware of. There’s a balance and I’m trying to find it, it’s just kind of a struggle. The corporations hold us hostage. We can’t hurt them without hurting ourselves in the process. Anarchy is a double-edged sword. But fuck if that’s gonna keep me from punching a cop in the face if he hits me first.”

“You’ll still go to jail.”

“Been there, done that, doesn’t seem as scary anymore,” Murphy lied. Thankfully, all the protests he’d been to lately had remained peaceful. Still, if they hadn’t, he was always ready to square up, to take the hits so someone else didn’t have to. Even so, he hated violence with a passion, if it could be avoided. If it had a purpose, he could roll with it, but if it was senseless, then he wasn’t getting involved.

“Bullshit,” Bellamy called his bluff. “Don’t hit cops.”

“What if they hit me first?” Murphy whined.

“Then take their badge number, give it to me, and I’ll hit them. I can’t go to jail for it. I outrank beat cops.”

“Yeah, but if they think it might get violent, or worse, when they plan to _turn_ it violent, they tape over them.”

“That’s illegal.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to report them?”

Bellamy frowned. He wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Fine, if you can’t get their badge number and they hit you first, kick their ass. I’ll bail you out and vouch for you.”

“Seriously?” Murphy squinted at him. “Why?”

“Yes, seriously. And because I don’t think you’d ever start shit with someone who didn’t fucking deserve it. In fact, if you’re ever arrested at a protest, just call me and pull every string I can to get you out.”

“And if you can’t?”

“Then I’ll bust the window of a cop car, so I can sit next to you,” Bellamy grinned.

“That’s just stupid.” But still, Murphy was touched.

“So, what do you write about?” Bellamy asked, shifting the conversation back. Not that he didn’t like discussing these things with Murphy, but he was really curious about his life as of late and wanted to know more.

“Social issues and random stuff from our city. Did a piece on our mayor’s re-election campaign. I may have hinted that he was embezzling funds from the city. Only hinted, mind you, I can’t outright say anything until I’ve got proof, because that would be slander,” Murphy rolled his eyes.

“You got many readers?”

“Yeah, actually. So many that I can run ads, usually from local places or non-profits, nothing from big corporations, but small businesses and stuff. It’s not enough to pay off my student loans, but it’s enough to help Mbege and Craig with the bills. Also, pizza specials.”

“Pizza specials?”

“Yup. Every Friday.”

“Why?”

“Sieanna pays me to. Her shop has specials every weekend and she pays me to post them on Friday mornings so everyone knows about them without having to call or whatever. She's cool. She and her husband run it themselves. She knew Jaha, too, so we'd go in for pizza every now and then and she's pretty nice. They make everything themselves and it's great pizza. We, that is, Craig, Mbege, and me, never buy from anyone else. I'll take you there sometime.”

Bellamy smiled at the promise of another date, “Sounds good.”

They laid there like that until the movie ended and the lights in the lot came on, just talking about their lives. Well, mainly Murphy’s life. Bellamy’s hadn’t changed all that much except for a new partner. When he thought about it, he guessed he was a little bit boring, but when he’d told Murphy that, he had laughed and said that wasn’t even close to true.

Murphy stretched when he stood up and helped Bellamy gather the blanket and their trash up and stick it in the backseat before sliding into the seat. “So, uh…”

“Yeah?” Bellamy looked over at him, an eyebrow raised.

“Do you want to drop me off at Mbege’s or do you wanna take me home?” Murphy asked, a little quieter than usual. He figured he knew what Bellamy would say, but it couldn’t hurt to offer.

Bellamy considered it for a moment. There was nothing he wanted more than to take Murphy home with him. He wanted him so badly, the time apart only making him want him more, but he wanted to do this right. He could wait. “I’ll take you back to your place.”

“Right,” Murphy nodded.

“No, Murph, look, it’s not that, okay? I just want to do things right this time. I don’t want to rush into it and burn out or something. I want you, I want you for a long time, forever, even, so I want to do it right. Is that alright?”

Murphy gave him a small smile and nodded, “Sure, Bell. Just know the offer stands.”

And God, did Bellamy want to take him up on it, but not yet. Not yet. He was going to be a gentleman about this, earn Murphy’s trust the right way, build an actual relationship. So, he just nodded and turned the key in the ignition.

The drive home was quiet, but Murphy didn’t mess with the radio like he had before and when Bellamy had asked why, he just shrugged and said, “Because I’m not uncomfortable.”

The silence didn’t fill like dead air needing to be filled, it just felt safe and calm, because he knew Bellamy already loved him, he didn’t have to talk constantly or fill the void with noise. He could just exist around Bellamy. Bellamy had smiled at him and it made Murphy’s heart flutter and he wished Bellamy would have just taken him home, but he didn’t want to push. He was sure if he pushed hard enough, he could get him to do it, but Bellamy had a thing going on, a plan or something, and Murphy was going to let him do what he wanted.

When they were outside Mbege’s, Murphy leaned over the console and captured Bellamy’s lips in a kiss that was so sweet and gentle that it Bellamy melted into it. He’d missed this, more than he’d ever missed anything.

“I’ll see you at the station, then?” Murphy murmured against his lips, not quite ready to let go just yet.

“Yeah, whenever you wanna drop by.”

Murphy pressed one last, chaste kiss to his lips and pulled away, giving Bellamy a smile that made his heart skip a beat. He waited until Murphy was inside to drive away, feeling like he was back in high school all over again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as it is summer, I have nothing to do but write, so here's the next chapter. There wasn't supposed to be smut for several more chapters, but I felt that was a bit too long for them, considering how fast they generally more, so I've got to edit my plot a bit, but there's some smut at the end of this chapter. Hope it's alright, since it's the first time I've written it in years, so.
> 
> I'm gonna start the next chapter now, so it may be posted sometime today or like, later tonight, depending on if I pass out between now and finishing it.
> 
> Enjoy!

Murphy took a deep breath and opened the glass door to the station, nerves vibrating under his skin. He couldn’t believe he was back here, entering a station full of cops who had tried to lock him away. Of course, he knew there were some who had been on Bellamy’s side, there had to be, but he didn’t know how many or who they were, Bellamy hadn’t told him. They didn’t really talk about that, it opened too many wounds that weren’t quite old enough to be scars, but this, what Murphy was doing right now, it meant he was either going to reopen all of them or help him move past some of them, depending on what happened when he went in.

He hesitated but eventually pushed himself to walk through the doorway, knowing that if he didn’t do it now, he never would.

He looked around the hallway, posters hanging off from corkboards and people in suits disappearing through random doors that lead to places Murphy didn’t want to see. He hadn’t been inside this building in so long, even when he’d been dating Bellamy, he’d only been outside of it. He didn’t like this place. Too many times he’d been sitting inside the Cage, waiting for Arthur to bail him out. Mr. Mbege had never been upset by it, he’d only been gentle and comforting to both him and Mbege whenever it happened. But, still, this place didn’t hold the best of memories.

He should just go, return to his apartment search. He hadn’t even meant to end up here, but he’d been looking for apartments in the area and realized where he was and decided he wanted to see Bellamy. But maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea.

_‘Stop being a little bitch and get over your shit,’_ the voice in his head growled. _‘Do you want to see Bellamy or not? If not, go back to your bullshit search for apartments you can’t afford. Otherwise, grow the hell up and act like an adult. None of these people are going to hurt you. They can’t. You’ve done nothing wrong.’_

No matter how logical the voice was, it didn’t make him trust these cops any more. He did want to see Bellamy, though. But he didn’t want to annoy him. He wasn’t sure what the rules were now, was he even allowed here? The last time he came anywhere near the station, it had lead to him being arrested. Maybe he was just tempting fate.

No.

No, Bellamy had given him permission to drop by. He wanted him to come by. Bellamy wanted to see him just as much as the reverse. He was allowed to be here.

Murphy nodded to himself and took a deep breath, walking into the lobby of the station. He looked at the woman behind the receptionist’s desk. She was on the phone with someone. He could wait… or he could just find Bellamy himself. That sounded better.

_That’s right, John, just walk in and act like you own the place. They won’t even remember who you are._

That was probably true, seeing as how falsely arresting one person wasn’t going to destroy their live like being arrested had destroyed Murphy. No, he wasn’t bitter at all.

He looked over the sea of desks and detectives, surrounded by beat cops who looked so out of place in the professional environment, like if a fish tried to play at a dog park, trying to find Bellamy but he couldn’t see him. He must not be there right now. Maybe he was just away from his desk? Like, talking to someone or getting coffee?

Except the coffee maker was on a table by the wall next to a fish tank and Bellamy was nowhere near it.

Murphy sighed and made his way over to the tank, deciding that, since he’d already come inside, and if he left there was no guarantee that he’d be able to make himself come back in, he may as well stay and wait.

He watched the fish swimming in the water, three little yellow ones, four green ones, two blue, and a pink one. The pink one was Murphy’s favorite. It was smaller than the rest, but it kept up with them, except it kept getting distracted by the plants and leaving the group to investigate. It was cute.

“You need help?”

Murphy jumped at the voice, whirling around and nearly knocking into the fish tank in his panic. The man in front of him looked slightly familiar, but he couldn’t place him.

Miller held out a hand to steady him, “You okay, man? Please don’t murder my fish. We just got Marsha and Phillip finally got over his fear of the ship, and just don’t hurt them, please.”

Murphy raised an eyebrow at the man in front of him. He looked terrifying, like he could crush Murphy in a second, but the concern he showed for the fish made Murphy think he wasn’t as mean as he looked, “Marsha?”

“The little pink one,” Miller explained, pointing to the fish. “That’s Marsha. The green guys are Phillip, Georgie, Vin, and Lizzie. The blue are Max and Ripper, he thinks he’s a shark. And the yellow are Felisha, Ollie, and Fred. It’s kinda hard to tell them apart, at first, but they’ve got some differences. Like, Ripper is the one who attacks bubbles and Max likes to swim at the bottom to collect forgotten fish flakes. See?”

Murphy nodded hesitantly, watching the little blue fish swim around inspecting the rocks. He wasn’t sure who this guy was, but he kinda liked him. The softness in his voice as he talked about the fish made Murphy want to trust him. “They’re cute. I love fish.”

“Yeah. Not everyone appreciates them, but they brighten this place up a lot. No matter what I’ve seen or what just happened, I come back here, and I watch them for a while and it’s just calming. These fish don’t care about what you’ve done, they don’t try to hurt each other, they just want to swim and eat and fuck with the plants.” Miller smiled and grabbed for a yellow bottle on the table, holding it out to Murphy, “Wanna feed them?”

“Sure,” Murphy returned the smile and took the offered canister, opening it up and grabbing a pinch of fish food. He crushed the flakes up and began sprinkling them in the water, Miller doing the same. Murphy snorted softly as the fish swam to the top, biting at the food and swimming in happy little circles. “Cute.”

“Incredibly. Between these fish and the tech room, there’s no such thing as a bad day,” Miller admitted. “So, you need something, or?”

“I was actually just waiting here for Bellamy. Is he around?” Murphy asked, looking up at the man.

“Nah, he’s on a case with Monroe. They’ll be back later.”

“Oh,” Murphy nodded, a little awkward because he didn’t know what to do now.

“I could help you, instead, if you want?”

“I don't need help, I just wanted to see him.”

“You're the reason Bellamy's been smiling like an idiot all day, aren't you?”

“Maybe?” Was he?

“You must be Murphy, then,” Miller laughed.

“Yeah, that's me.”

Miller stuck out his hand, “We haven’t officially met yet, I’m Detective Miller.”

Murphy shook his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“I’ve been waiting a while to meet you, actually. You caused quite a stir here a while back.”

Murphy frowned and fidgeted with the snap on his jacket sleeve, “Sorry?”

“It’s all good, man. I’m sorry about what happened to you, though. That must have been hard to go through. Bellamy, though, he never gave up. Kane even threatened his job and he just went behind his back cause he just knew you didn’t do it. I mean, we were all convinced, except him. Then he found a lead and dragged my ass into it, but it all worked out,” Miller shrugged. “You doing okay, now?”

“Yeah. Things are good,” Murphy nodded. He didn’t like this topic, but he supposed it was bound to be brought up eventually. “What do you mean, he dragged you into it?”

“Well, he was off the case, so Kane put me and Monroe on it. Actually, I was there when Kane, uh, you know-”

“Arrested me?” Murphy snorted. That explained why he recognized Miller.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“You were just doing your job.”

“Yeah. Anyway, Bellamy needed someone who was on the case to get the warrant and go with him to check out the new suspect and that was me.”

“So, you helped clear my name?”

“Yeah, I guess, but don’t thank me for it. I just did it cause Bellamy’s my friend and I owed it to him.”

Murphy nodded. Well, at least not everyone in the department hated him. “Regardless of why you did it, thanks. It couldn’t have been an easy decision to put your career on the line.”

“No, but Bellamy’s rarely wrong. I mean on small things, sure, he’s usually wrong about first impressions, thinks everyone’s a suspect, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” Murphy laughed bitterly. He knew that all too well.

“But, once he gets to know someone, or gets a gut feeling, he’s rarely wrong. His closure rate is higher than anyone’s. He’s put away a lot of bad guys.”

“I believe it. He’s a smart guy.” And a bit of an ass, but otherwise, Murphy had no doubt he was a great cop.

“Here, let’s go to my desk, we can sit and talk while you wait for him to get back. Shouldn’t be too long now, they’re just chasing a lead. They’re actually close to solving this case,” Miller said, motioning for Murphy to follow him.

Murphy trailed behind him as Miller lead him to a desk that was covered in case files and unfinished paperwork, much like every other desk in the place. Miller groaned when he saw the stack and shook his head. “I’m so not doing all of this myself.”

He took half the stack and put it on the desk in front of his, causing a blonde woman to look up with a glare, “Don’t do it.”

“Just did it.”

“Take it back.”

“Nope.”

“Miller.”

“Harper.”

“Take your paperwork and do it yourself.”

“But there’s so much and you don’t have any!” Miller complained.

“That’s because I got it done while you were downstairs flirting with the tech guy.”

“I wasn’t flirting!”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

Miller just sighed and gave her a look that Murphy assumed was meant to convince her to help him. “Please?”

“No.”

“I’ll buy you lunch.”

Harper hesitated for a moment, “From where?”

“Your pick.”

“Garfield’s?”

“Lasagna?”

“I’m surprised they haven’t gotten in trouble for their name, or for their sign. Surely, there’s royalties to be paid somewhere,” Harper mused. “So, Garfield’s?”

“Sure,” Miller shrugged.

“Deal.” Harper took the stack of paperwork and put it on her desk. “Who’s this?”

“This is John Murphy.”

“Like _John Murphy,_ John Murphy?”

“This has been confirmed,” Miller nodded. “Say ‘hi,’ Murphy.”

“Hi?” Murphy said, a little confused. “You people know me?”

“For several reasons,” Harper nodded. “Most famous is that you’re the guy that almost got Kane fired. He falsely arrested you and apparently he was a little extreme during the interview process and someone brought it up to the head of the department.”

“I didn’t-”

“Oh, no, we know who it was.”

Miller nodded, “He was downright terrifying, actually. I’ve never seen anybody that calm and angry at the same time.”

“Mbege?”

“No, his name was Jaha. Wells’ dad.”

Murphy was a little taken aback. He hadn’t thought Jaha would have cared enough, but he’d come by after Murphy got out and they’d talked about everything. He’d kept in contact while Murphy was in college and they still met up for lunch at least once a month, but he’d never told Murphy he’d gone after Kane’s job.

“First time Kane ever met him, he was trying to get him fired.”

“And now look where they are,” Harper laughed.

“Where are they?” Murphy asked, confused.

“They’ve been dating for the past year.”

“ _That’s_ who Jaha’s been dating?” Murphy blinked. “Are you serious?”

Jaha had mentioned a new boyfriend, but Murphy had never asked who it was. That was, that was amazing, actually.

“Yeah. It’s made Kane much calmer, actually. We all thought he was going to go after Abby or something, they’d been flirting for the past I don’t know how many years, but nah, he met Jaha and he asked him out as soon as he was done trying to get him fired. Jaha said no.”

“It took a whole year of various run ins, all orchestrated by Kane with the reluctant help of Wells, to get him to say yes. I’m pretty sure he even sent flowers to his work, once.”

Murphy snorted and shook his head. “Well, from what I’ve seen, he makes Jaha happy, so I guess he can’t be too bad.”

“Oh, he can be. Trust me,” Miller said with a shudder. “That man would turn you into a floor lamp if you crossed him on the wrong day.”

“Sounds like a fun guy,” Murphy laughed, leaning back in his chair. He was slowly relaxing around these two. They made him feel welcome here. “So, what are the other reasons?”

“The oldest reason is that you literally hold the record for most arrests before the age of eighteen. I think it’s like two hundred and something? You’re famous here. You’re the guy every juvenile delinquent aspires to be,” Harper told him.

Murphy felt a surge of pride. He didn’t know he held the record. That was impressive. “Well, I don’t generally do that sort of thing anymore.”

“Good. Otherwise you might break another record and then the department would be obligated to buy you a plaque,” Harper giggled.

“I mean, they kind of owe him one already for the third reason. Something like, ‘this award is presented to John Murphy, for pulling the ten-foot pole from the ass of Bellamy Blake,’ Miller laughed. “That’s why most people know who you are. Bellamy never shuts up about you. There was a whole two years where all he did was mope around but then like magic, a week ago, he just switched gears and hasn’t stopped smiling. Won’t shut up about you, either. Ask him how his day’s going, and he’ll find a reason to give you a ten-page poem he wrote about you.”

Murphy laughed so hard his stomach hurt. Yeah, he liked this place a lot. “So, he did have a stick up his ass. Here I just thought I was getting special treatment.”

“Nah, he’s a dick to everybody until he decides he likes them. Then he turns into like some kind of badly trained puppy or something. Like, he might let you pet him, but he might also shit in your living room, it’s a toss-up,” Miller said. “But he’s a damn good cop, and a loyal friend, so it’s worth the risk.”

“So, he’s been here for how long?” Murphy asked.

“Since he was eighteen. He’s thirty now, so, about twelve years, give or take.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah. He’s got some great stories, too. Like, this case he was on, about a gang of criminals robbing convenience stores, right?” Miller started.

“Oh, god, I remember this one,” Harper smiled. “So, he decides to go undercover at one of the stores they might hit. It was the next one in their path, so he sets up shop. However, he got bored halfway through the night, because waiting is boring as hell, you know?”

“So, instead of reading a book or playing on his phone, he decides to go all Home Alone on this place. I’m talking trip wires that knocked over entire aisles, an exploding microwave triggered by yet another trip wire, and a decoy cop made out of bags of chips with a squirt gun painted black. It was beautiful, absolutely insane.”

“And it’s all caught on surveillance tape, too, so if you ever want to see it, just ask Monty. I highly suggest you watch it sometime, it’s hilarious,” Miller advised.

Murphy just shook his head, “I’ll have to do that one day.”

Miller calmed himself down and sighed, “Yeah. He's a good guy. He's a good cop and one of my best friends.”

“Am I going to get a best friend speech?” Murphy asked, a little worried.

“Nah, I mean, you already know it, and you’ve seen my gun, do I really need to give it to you?” Miller asked with a grin.

Murphy shook his head, “I get the idea.”

“Good. Good,” Miller smiled. “So, anyway-”

“Murphy!”

Murphy looked up at the sound of Bellamy’s voice. “Bell?”

“Hey, babe,” Bellamy smiled as he got close to where Murphy was sitting. He leaned down and gave him a quick kiss before asking, “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you,” Murphy explained. Then, getting a little anxious, “That’s alright, right?”

“Of course, it is. You’re always welcome here. Right, Miller?”

“I still think we should throw him a party for removing the stick from your ass, but that’s just my opinion,” Miller shrugged, winking at Murphy.

“See? Welcome,” Bellamy said. “You wanna meet my new partner?”

“Sure,” Murphy smiled, standing up. “Where is she?”

“Over here, at our desks,” Bellamy motioned for Murphy to follow and he did, right at Bellamy’s heels. “Monroe!”

“Blake!” She snapped back, dropping down into her chair and glaring at the files on her desk. “One case cannot produce this much paperwork.”

“And yet, somehow, it does,” Bellamy sighed, looking at his own matching pile. “But, some of it’s from our last case, final reports and all that. Should probably do those first.”

“I don’t want to do any of them, though,” she huffed, pulling out a pen. “Who’s this? New lead?”

“Boyfriend.”

“The infamous John Murphy, then,” she said, smiling at him. “So, tell me, Murphy, does the sun really shine out of your ass?”

“Um, no?” Murphy furrowed his brow, confused by what she meant.

“And yet, the way Blake here tells it, it does.”

“Oh,” Murphy nodded. “He can be a bit deluded at times. Probably best just to pat him on the head and tell him you believe him. Kinda like when a four-year-old says he’s Batman.”

“If a four-year-old says he’s Batman, you immediately begin an investigation into him to see if he’s plotting to murder his parents. Only orphans can believably be Batman.”

“Well, that adds to my credibility, then,” Murphy laughed.

Monroe snorted and covered her mouth, Bellamy watching the two of them with wide eyes. “You two okay?”

“I’m afraid we have to arrest this man, Blake.”

“What the fuck did I not do this time?” Murphy asked with a grin.

“Vigilante justice is against the law.”

“But, I’m Batman, I’m above the law and I’ve got the money to prove it.”

“Fucking-” Monroe laughed. “I’m afraid that only works in Gotham, here in reality, we don’t accept money as an excuse to break the law.”

“Tell that to the mayor,” Murphy snarked.

“Wish I could,” Monroe sighed.

Bellamy watched the exchange curiously. Unsure how to proceed. They seemed to like each other.

“So, how the hell do you put up with my boyfriend?”

“I don’t. Trust me, I’ve shot at him at least twice today,” Monroe told him. “He’s just really good at ducking behind things.”

Murphy snorted and shook his head. He’d been really curious to see who could actually put up with Bellamy, and how they managed it, but now he understood.

She was just as bad as he was, and yet also somehow worse and he was completely in love with her.

“You want coffee?” Monroe asked, pointing to the machine.

“Sure,” Murphy agreed, following her over to the machine.

“Fine, just steal my fucking boyfriend, why don’t you, it’s not like I saw him first or anything,” Bellamy called. Monroe just smirked at him and began pouring the coffee.

Bellamy just sat down and began to do his paperwork while the two talked. He figured this would happen. She and Murphy were a lot alike, it was one of the main reasons he’d agreed to take her on as a partner.

She was snarky and rude, and Bellamy loved her to bits. She was Murphy’s age, but she acted like she was older, just like Murphy did. They were both complete jerks to him and they both snapped at authority figures constantly, and they both had tempers that could go off at any second. They were two of a kind.

Bellamy watched them make their coffee, grinning. Something he hadn’t noticed that made them all the more similar was that they both drank the same syrupy coffee. He groaned and shook his head. How the hell had he missed that?

._-*-_.

“Finally,” Bellamy sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Done.”

“Yeah?” Monroe asked, launching another ball of paper at Murphy with the slingshot they’d built out of pens and rubber bands.

“Yeah,” he smiled. She hadn’t even started, she’d been busy fooling around with Murphy, but he wasn’t going to make fun of her for it. He was glad they got along. “Hey, Murphy!”

Murphy looked up from across the room where he was ducking from the paper balls being launched at him. The second he looked up, one hit him square in the face, which made both him and Monroe double over in laughter. “Y-yeah?”

“Wanna get lunch?”

“Sure,” Murphy nodded, gathering up the balls of paper and dumping them in the nearest trashcan. He walked back over just as Bellamy was grabbing his jacket. “Where?”

“You pick.”

“I can take you to Sienna’s place.”

Bellamy smiled, “Sounds good.”

They walked outside, hand in hand. Bellamy pulled Murphy to his car and was surprised when, as soon as they were out of sight from the general public, Murphy had him pinned against it.

He kissed him, bruising hard and passionate and Bellamy gave back as good as he got, biting at Murphy’s bottom lip and shoving his tongue past his lips, his hands gripping Murphy’s hips and pulling him against him. Murphy’s hands were tangling in his curls and Bellamy moaned when Murphy ground against him. He pulled back, “I thought- Fuck, I thought we were taking this slow.”

“If you want to, I guess, but I just wanted to kiss you,” Murphy shrugged, pressing kisses down the side of Bellamy’s neck. “I’ll stop if you want me to.”

“I thought we were getting lunch?”

“I mean, we could just order pizza and get it delivered to your place?” Murphy suggested, trailing a hand down Bellamy’s chest, popping buttons as he went.

Bellamy wanted nothing more than to give in. Murphy was ready, he was ready, it wasn’t like they were really rushing things, and dammit, “If you don’t stop trying to take my clothes off in public, I’m going to cuff you.”

“Do it, _detective,_ ” Murphy purred, reaching the bottom of Bellamy’s shirt. “Let’s go back to your place.”

Bellamy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was going to wait, take this slow, but fuck it, he didn’t want to. He wanted Murphy and he wanted him _now._ “I don’t have a very long lunch break.”

“Then we’ll be quick.”

Bellamy nodded, “Get in the car, then.”

Murphy smirked and did as he was told, Bellamy sliding in just as quickly.

“So, pizza?”

“We’d have to stop to eat. If there’s time after, we’ll order some, but honestly, I just want you,” Murphy said, putting a hand on Bellamy’s thigh.

“Murphy,” Bellamy warned.

“I’m not going to do anything while you’re driving. I like living, for the most part,” Murphy assured him.

It took five minutes to get to Bellamy’s house, but it felt like forever with Murphy’s hand on his thigh. All he wanted was to pull over and take Murphy in the backseat. Fuck, he should have just done that in the first place, but then they ran the risk of getting caught, especially at the station and Bellamy wasn’t willing to take that chance.

“Hurry up,” Murphy whined as Bellamy turned the key in the lock.

“It’s open, okay? Now get your ass inside,” Bellamy ordered.

Murphy shoved Bellamy towards the couch the second they were inside. They didn’t have long enough for Bellamy to fuck him, but that was okay, they could still get off. He just wanted Bellamy, as much as he could have of him, as soon as he could have him.

As soon as Bellamy was seated on the couch, Murphy dropped to his knees, making Bellamy moan. He smirked at him and undid his belt and pants, pulling him out and stroking him until he was hard. Everything was rushed and fast and Bellamy’s head was spinning. Slow was the complete opposite of how this was going, but he didn’t really care.

“Fuck, Murphy,” Bellamy moaned as Murphy licked at the head of his cock, looking up at Bellamy for a second before taking him into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the head, Bellamy bucking up into his mouth and bobbed his head a few times, getting adjusted to the feeling before taking him down as far as he could, Bellamy’s cock brushing the back of his throat and making him want to gag, he hummed around him and looked up at Bellamy through his lashes.

Bellamy was watching him intently, lust clouding his gaze. All he wanted was to buck his hips up into the wet heat of Murphy’s mouth, but he didn’t want to hurt him. But, fuck, Murphy’s mouth felt so good. He couldn’t hold back a moan as Murphy began to bob his head again, taking him all the way down and swallowing around him. “Murphy, I’m not gonna- Fuck, baby, you look so pretty like that. You know that?”

Murphy hummed in response as Bellamy tangled his fingers in Murphy’s hair. Murphy pulled off, swirling his tongue around the head taking him back down, not giving Bellamy a chance to catch his breath. Bellamy tugged on his hair and Murphy moaned, causing Bellamy to smirk, “You like that, baby?”

Murphy nodded as best he could and Bellamy tightened his grip, Murphy feeling his cock twitch in his pants. He used his free hand to rub at it, trying to get some relief.

“Murphy, I’m gonna, oh, fuck, baby, I’m gonna come,” Bellamy groaned. It had been too long and with the sight Murphy made, his lips around his cock and his hair in his face as he looked up at him, there was no way he was ever going to last very long, anyway.

Murphy took him down as far as he could and hummed around him, the vibrations tipping Bellamy over the edge. Murphy pulled off, swallowing down as much as he could and smirking up at Bellamy, “Good?”

“Amazing, baby,” Bellamy told him. “Now take your pants off and come here, I wanna get you off.”

Murphy moaned and tucked Bellamy away before ridding himself of his pants and shoes and climbing up into Bellamy’s lap, his erection straining against his stomach.

Bellamy wasted no time in taking him into his hand and stroking him slowly, making the boy whine. Murphy kissed Bellamy for a second, letting the other man taste himself on his tongue and reveling in the moan he got out of him before pulling away and asking, “Did you bring you cuffs?”

“You sure?” Bellamy asked, not wanting to bring up any bad memories for Murphy.

“Very,” Murphy breathed out, pupils blown and lips red. He looked like the definition of turned on and Bellamy wasn’t going to deny him anything.

Bellamy pulled the cuffs from his belt and put it on one of Murphy’s wrists, checking to make sure it wasn’t too tight. “Behind or in front?”

“Behind,” Murphy decided, putting his wrists behind him so Bellamy could cuff him easier. “Wanna read me my rights?”

“You’ve got the right to shut the fuck up and do exactly what I say,” Bellamy told him, letting his hand wander to Murphy’s ass.

Murphy moaned loudly at his words and leaned down to capture Bellamy in a kiss.

Bellamy kissed back, nipping at his lips and soothing the bite with his tongue as he used his free hand to dig in the drawer of the table beside the couch, trying to find the bottle he knew was stashed there. Finally finding it, he broke the kiss and began trailing them down Murphy’s neck, leaving bite marks and bruises behind as the boy squirmed on his lap.

He brought the lube up behind him and poured some on his fingers before spreading Murphy’s cheeks and pressing a finger against his hole, Murphy pushing against it and whimpering, “Please.”

Bellamy just smirked and pushed in, Murphy whimpering and moaning at the feeling, begging, “More.”

“In time, baby, gotta let you adjust, don’t wanna hurt you.”

“I like it, though,” Murphy breathed out, thrusting down onto Bellamy’s hand.

“Like what, baby?” Bellamy asked, figuring he knew the answer but he wanted to hear it, anyway, just so it was clear.

Murphy blushed and looked down, “Pain.”

Bellamy grinned and used his free hand to tilt Murphy’s face up to look at him, “Look at me, Murphy. It’s okay, you don’t have to be embarrassed. I’ll give you whatever you want, okay?”

“Want more, please,” Murphy begged.

“Alright,” Bellamy agreed, shoving another finger inside of Murphy, stretching the boy and making him wince and moan.

“More,” he breathed out.

“That’s gonna-”

“Please,” he whined, bucking his hips down and catching Bellamy in another kiss. Bellamy complied, shoving in a third finger, Murphy tensing up beneath him and for a second, Bellamy thought he’d done something wrong until Murphy groaned and canted his hips down, breaking the kiss to tell him, “Move.”

Bellamy did as he was told, thrusting his fingers in and out of Murphy, who whimpered in pleasure and dropped his head to Bellamy’s shoulder, leaning against his chest. He matched Bellamy’s pace until he couldn’t take it anymore and demanded, “Touch me.”

“I don’t take orders from you, Murphy. I’m in charge, remember?”

“Fuck, _please_ ,” Murphy begged, thrusting his hips down and burying his face in Bellamy’s neck. “Please, detective, please touch me.”

“Okay, baby,” Bellamy said, taking Murphy into his hand and stroking lightly.

Murphy groaned and let out a sob, “Please, Bell, don’t tease me. Please let me come.”

“Well, since you said ‘please,’” Bellamy chuckled, tightening his grip and stroking Murphy off hard and fast, making him moan and arch his back. “Bell, I’m gonna-!”

“Then come for me, baby,” Bellamy purred, pressing kisses to Murphy’s shoulder as he stroked him off.

Murphy cried out as he came, “Bell!”

Bellamy didn’t stop stroking him off until he begged him to, the overstimulation becoming too much for him. He pulled his fingers out and grabbed for tissues from the box on the table and cleaned the lube from his hand so that he could unlock the handcuffs.

Once they were off, he laid them to the side and began rubbing Murphy’s wrists while he came down from his high. “You good, baby?”

“Mhm,” Murphy nodded, raising up. “I got your shirt dirty.”

“I’ll change, it’s fine,” Bellamy shrugged.

“I’m sorry,” Murphy mumbled.

“I can change, really, it’s fine.”

“No. You said you wanted to go slow,” Murphy mumbled, playing with the top button of Bellamy’s shirt.

Bellamy laughed and shook his head, “It’s alright, baby. We aren’t really the ‘slow’ type, are we?”

Murphy shook his head and pressed a kiss to the corner of Bellamy’s mouth. “Thank you.”

“Anything you want, Murphy. I’ll give it to you,” Bellamy promised.

“Is your lunch break over?”

“Almost,” Bellamy said after checking his watch. “Why?”

“I’ll take you to Sienna’s some other time. Or we can order it some night.”

“Okay, babe,” Bellamy agreed. “Now, I’ve got to change and as much as I love you being in my lap, I can’t change with you on me.”

Murphy sighed and reluctantly got off of Bellamy’s lap. He stretched and began to put his pants back on as Bellamy started towards his bedroom.

“Want to come with me?”

Murphy chuckled, “If I go to your bedroom right now, there’s no way in hell you’re making it back to work today.”

“Fair point,” Bellamy conceded and left to change.

Fifteen minutes later they were back at the station, Murphy’s arms wrapped around Bellamy as they stood by his car. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Then stay.”

“But you won’t get your work done.”

“That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” Bellamy grinned.

“I can’t. I’ve got to get back to Mbege’s, anyway. We’re supposed to be deciding on party favors this evening and I said I’d be back by three.”

“Then you gotta go, but I’ll text you later, okay?” Bellamy promised.

“Okay,” Murphy sighed as he let go of Bellamy. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby,” Bellamy said, kissing Murphy’s forehead, wanting nothing more than to tell him that they were both going to blow everything else off and go watch movies or take a nap or do literally anything, as long as they were together. He didn’t want to let Murphy out of his sight, honestly, because he was scared that if he did, he’d wake up and it will have all been a dream. But then Murphy kissed him again and he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was real. He’d never had a dream this good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Fair warning, this note is long af and rambly. Forgive me, I don't know how to be concise nor do I know how to shut the hell up.)
> 
> Okay, so, first off, I'm so sorry this took so long. I had a family emergency and long story short, I'm living with my grandmother while I'm home for the summer to take care of her and her house had no internet until today, so I was unable to post anything. Or do anything. Thank fuck for data, tho, bc if I had to live without Spotify, I'd jump off a cliff, provided it was short and there was a ball pit in place of water underneath. It also means that I don't get to write as much as I want, bc I have to cook and be a nurse (to a patient who has decided she hates me, bc there's nothing like a healthy dose of angry jibberish to start your morning right), so I don't get to write 24/7. However, I do still get to write a lot, so I'll be updating this fairly regularly, still.
> 
> Second, (and this is where I ramble and try to convince you to read my new story) I've actually had this chapter done for about a week, and had a second one done a couple days later, but I haven't been writing as much on this one bc I've started a new multichap fic that I had in the works from a long time ago and I've been plotting that the past few days instead of writing this. It's got almost 40 chaps (literally 39) plotted rn (it had like, 10 plotted when I took a break from the 100) and it's still nowhere close to ending. So, that's a thing. It's literally just an excuse to have cop!Bellamy and delinquent!Murphy and BDSM smut in a fic. It's loosely (very loosely) based on the Teach Me A Lesson verse and now, looking back at it, reminds me of 50 Shades in a way I'm not quite comfortable with but don't care enough about to change. Not that I've read 50 Shades, but ya know, Bell's rich and Murphy's new to BDSM (or having a partner, at least), and Bell calls his dungeon something stupid, so, there's at least 3 similarities, but let's hope I can use better metaphors and other turns of phrase that have names I can't remember right now. How about 'It resembled a duck much in the way that a bicycle resembles a tree. Not even remotely.' Anyway, it's just Porn With Plot for the foreseeable future bc I can't come up with an ending and I'm afraid I'm going to run out of ideas for smut before coming up with one, but that's a problem I'll face when it happens. It's Murphamy, but eventually becomes Murphatomy (Murphy/Atom/Bellamy) so I've got a shitton of things I can do, so I'm estimating at least 60 chapters if not more. Probably more. So many chapters that all my readers are going to get bored and stop reading because no one needs that much BDSM smut in their life. Except me, apparently. Bc I hate sleep and myself and don't know how to quit while I'm ahead. So, yeah, that's what I've been doing this past week.
> 
> I want to be clear: I'm not abandoning this fic at all, I'm just going to be working on both at the same time, so it depends on which I have more insp for at the moment I'm writing on how fast they update. But, yeah, this will continue, I've got the whole fic plotted out til the very end and if ppl still want to stick with it, I may end up doing another sequel and just make it a trilogy. Maybe. If I haven't bored you to tears by the time this one is done. So, it's def going to continue being updated, just at a slower rate.
> 
> However, tonight I'm uploading two chaps for this and one for the BDSM fic, if I can find a title (it's 'Til Action Lust rn and I'm p sure that's a Shakespeare ref, but it's been so long since I started it that I can't remember, so I may retitle it). Because in the past week I've only been able to write 3 chapters total. But, they're all rly long chapters (27pgs and 17pgs for IU and 17pgs for the BDSM fic), plus there's smut in all of them (and there'll be smut in every IU chap up until chap 6, then it gets more sporadic), so I hope that makes up for not posting for a week.
> 
> And that's what you missed on Glee!

“So, any luck yesterday?” Mbege asked as he put away the last of the dishes. They’d finished lunch and were ready to start tackling more wedding planning as soon as Craig and Drew woke up. They’d stayed up all night playing Halo and had crashed around eight that morning, so they’d decided to let them sleep for a while. Once they were up, they could focus on the wedding, but for now, they may as well work on other projects, like finding Murphy an apartment and a job.

It wasn’t that Mbege minded Murphy staying with them, not at all, but Murphy seemed hellbent on finding a place before the wedding because he was afraid things would be awkward after Craig and Mbege were married. It didn’t matter how many times they assured him it wouldn’t be, he didn’t budge. He was going to move out and get his own place sometime soon. He had to, he missed his independence, and no matter how much he loved his friends, he needed his own space again, it was like a stepping stone to rebuilding his life.

Murphy sighed and made his way into the living room, flopping down on the couch before answering, “Not good. I can’t seem to find a decent place that’s in my price range and as for jobs, well, nobody wants to hire a murderer, ya know?”

He had a budget, a small one, and finding a place that he didn’t have to share with rats and roaches on that budget was hard as hell. He’d have better luck if he had a job, because then he’d have a higher budget, but no paper in town wanted to hire a murderer, falsely accused or not. He knew how word got around, too. It was that bitch Alie. She’d spread the news of his arrest to every paper in town so that he couldn’t get a job. She was cruel and horrible, and he hated her with every fiber of his being. Why she couldn’t just fuck off and leave him alone, he didn’t know.

But, even so, he was determined to find a job and an apartment somewhere within the next month and a half. He’d rebuild his life, it was slow progress, but he would do it. It would just take some effort and a little bit of faith, like Jaha always told him, as stupid as it sounded.

“How about that one place on eighth, you went there yesterday, right?” Mbege asked, taking a seat next to Murphy and settling in so he was facing him.

“Well, not exactly…” Murphy trailed off. He hadn’t finished his apartment search because of Bellamy, not that he regretted it for a second. He could still feel Bellamy’s hands on his skin, it was burned into his memory, he’d never be able to forget it and all he wanted was more. No, being with Bellamy was definitely worth missing out on an apartment viewing.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Mbege asked, raising an eyebrow. Murphy had been excited to see that place, it was a little over budget, but it was nice and wasn’t a studio apartment, which was good, because Murphy needed more space.

“It means I may have spent the day with Bellamy...?” Murphy tried to force a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. He knew how Mbege felt about Bellamy, and he knew he was in for a lecture, but dammit, he loved Bellamy, more than he had ever loved anyone, romantically, at least, so it didn’t matter what Mbege thought. He was in love and he was going to hold onto it for as long as he could, which, if he was lucky, may very well be forever, the thought of which sent a wave of butterflies loose in his stomach.

“With Bell- John fucking Murphy what the hell is wrong with you?” Mbege demanded, sputtering. What the hell was wrong with Murphy? Had he hit his head? Had he forgotten what Bellamy had done to him? How stupid could he be?

“Lots of things,” Murphy mumbled, picking at a loose thread on his jeans. He knew Mbege would be mad, he’d prepared himself for it, but faced with the look of disappointment and exasperation he currently wore, Murphy felt like an idiot. Which he probably was, if he was honest. Bellamy had screwed him over royally, but even so, Murphy had given him a second chance. He loved him, he couldn’t just lose him forever. He’d regretted letting him walk out of that prison for the past two years, he wasn’t just going to let him slip through his fingers a second time, no matter what he’d done.

“No shit. Is that- That's who you've been dating?” Mbege asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was insane. This whole thing was insane. Had Murphy forgotten the week he’d spent curled up on the couch, crying his eyes out? Had he forgotten how he’d lost his job, his apartment, his reputation, everything? Because Mbege hadn’t. He remembered exactly what shape Murphy had been in and he’d swore he’d never let that happen to his little brother again. Ever. But now, Murphy was going to get himself hurt all over again and there was nothing Mbege could do to stop it, because nobody was more stubborn than Murphy and if he thought he was in love, then nothing could change his mind. But that wasn’t going to stop Mbege from trying.

“Kinda,” Murphy admitted.

“Are you out of your mind?” Mbege nearly screeched. He took a deep breath, calming himself, he didn’t want to wake up Craig and Drew.

“Probably.” He was probably clinically insane, actually. He really needed to see a shrink at some point. Not just over this, but over everything. Maybe once he had insurance he would, but that required a job first.

“He ruined your life!” Mbege burst out, his voice too loud. He pursed his lips and sighed, shaking his head at Murphy. “You lost everything.”

Murphy sighed, “I know that, but Begsy-”

“No, don't 'Begsy' me, John,” Mbege shook his head again. “You can’t do this to yourself. You deserve better and you know it. You can’t just keep giving people second chances, especially when they don’t deserve them.”

That wasn’t fair. Bellamy did deserve a second chance. He hadn’t meant to hurt Murphy, not really, and yeah, he had, but he had apologized, sincerely, and he’d done everything he could to make it right. He deserved a second chance. And even if he didn’t, Murphy loved him, so he’d give him that chance, and he’d trust him not to hurt him again. “What do you want me to do? It's not like I chose it. I love him and he's not going to hurt me again-”

“How do you know that?”

“I trust him not to.”

“You trusting him is exactly what got you into trouble the first time!” Again, he was too loud, but he figured that the Thomas brothers were too exhausted to wake up just because he raised his voice. Besides, maybe if he said it loud enough, Murphy would actually hear it.

“I know, okay? I know it's stupid and I'm an idiot, but I really do love him and it's all fucked up but he's trying, and I don't know if it'll work this time, but I know I want to try. I want to try, Mbege.” It could end terribly, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that it might not. It might end up being everything he ever wanted. It might be perfect, or well, maybe not perfect, but right. Bellamy was everything he needed, even if he hadn’t been looking for it when he met him. Even though it had gotten him hurt, he was glad he met Bellamy. He needed him in his life, he loved him, and that was enough reason to try again.

Mbege sighed, giving in, “I'll stock the freezer with ice cream.”

“It's not gonna end badly.” He had to believe it would work out. He had to believe it would go right, that Bellamy wouldn’t hurt him. He needed to believe that. He needed something good in his life, something stable, something that made all the pain he’d gone through worth it.

“And add goldfish to the shopping list.”

They fell into silence for a moment, Mbege fidgeting with the remote, flicking through stations without actually caring what was on.

“Are you mad at me?” Murphy asked after a moment, his voice quiet and apprehensive.

Mbege looked at him, concern etched on his face, but no trace of anger, “No, god no. I think you're a colossal idiot, but I'm not mad at you.”

“But you are mad at him.”

Mbege didn’t say anything, and that was enough of an answer for Murphy.

“So, I guess I shouldn't bring him by the house anytime soon, then?” He didn’t want Bellamy getting killed.

“Oh, no. You're bringing him to dinner Saturday,” Mbege told him. At the very least, if Murphy was going to date him again, Mbege was going to put the fear of God into him. Maybe that would help things. Or at least make Mbege feel better about the whole thing.

“Don't kill him.”

“No promises.”

._-*-_.

Bellamy smiled to himself, thinking about Murphy and how well their last meeting had gone. Sure, he’d wanted to go slow, but he was more than happy that Murphy had had other plans. Just thinking about the faces Murphy had made or the sounds that came out of his mouth as Bellamy got him off had him ready to go again. Maybe he should call Murphy after work and see if he wanted to come over. There was so much more he’d wanted to do to him, but they hadn’t had the time. Plus, Bellamy was more than interested in exploring exactly how kinky Murphy was. He was more than willing to indulge him in anything.

He steered his thoughts back towards the case as he entered the doorway to Monty’s computer lab, ready to find a lead, or, if he was lucky, enough for a warrant. Flash drive in hand, he walked into the room, expecting to see Monty typing away at his keyboard, no doubt doing something of questionable legality. He was pretty sure Monty had hacked into at least four government agency databases at least once in his career.

Instead, however, he found him curled up on the couch in what looked to be the most uncomfortable pile of people ever, despite the content looks on their faces. He recognized Miller, that wasn’t unusual, everyone knew about their relationship, try as they might to hide it, but the other kid he didn’t know. He had dark hair and boyish features and he looked so peaceful nestled between Miller and Monty that Bellamy would have found it cute if not for the pressing matter at hand.

He cleared his throat, attempting to get Monty’s attention.

It worked as Monty’s eyes slowly opened, blinking at Bellamy in confusion. “What’s up?”

“I need you to go through a flashdrive for me. It’s important to my case.”

“It’s probably just your suspect’s porn collection, I’m calling it now,” Monty yawned, untangling himself from the other two, who hadn’t even stirred at Bellamy’s intrusion. He groaned, “I need a bigger couch.”

“So, who’s the kid?” Bellamy asked as he handed Monty the flashdrive.

“Bryan. He used to work nights, but they finally switched him to days, so his sleep schedule is off,” Monty explained, plugging the flashdrive into his computer.

“So, how long’s this been going on?”

“About a month. He’s sweet and charming and Miller fell for him first, but after a couple times meeting him, I had to agree he’s adorable, so we just kinda, added him. Polyamory is a glorious thing, you know.”

Bellamy snorted as he watched Monty go through the files, “What’s on it?”

“Files. Stuff like bank statements and money transfers and basically a shitton of financial records.”

“So, not porn?”

“Not porn. Just finance stuff. How boring,” Monty sighed. “Anyway, I don’t know if it’ll help your case, but it looks like this is all the records for the drug trafficking. However, they’re using shell companies and fronts, so it all looks legit. I can keep digging and see if I find anything suspicious, but I doubt it. These guys are good.”

Bellamy nodded, disappointed. He’d hoped to get a warrant. It looked like he was just going to have to catch them in the act. “Does Kane know?”

“About the flashdrive?”

“About Bryan.”

“Oh. Does Kane need to?”

“Yes.”

“The correct answer is ‘no.’”

“He's going to find out. He probably already has.”

“Probably, but until we know for sure, I'm going to pretend he doesn't,” Monty said with finality. He wasn’t going to tell Kane. He’d only complain about how his station was a circus and probably try to staple Monty to a desk or something. It didn’t sound pleasant.

“Well, I’m gonna go. Gotta file paperwork for a stakeout and see if our rat can tell me when the next drop is going down,” Bellamy said, turning to leave.

“Have fun!” Monty called with a wave as he made his way back to the couch.

Bellamy was walking back to his desk when his phone went off, and he smiled as he heard that stupid song play. He picked it up and looked at the text from Murphy.

_Hey, uh, got plans for Saturday?_

**no why?**

_Mbege has invited you to dinner._

**oh**

_Do you want to come?_

Not really, Bellamy didn’t want to face Mbege’s wrath, but, he needed to. He had to apologize and try to get Mbege to understand. Plus, if he didn’t, Mbege would probably convince Murphy not to see him again, and the thought terrified Bellamy.

**sure**

_Okay, great. I’ll let him know._

Bellamy sighed. He was going to invite Murphy over tonight, but he wasn’t sure that was a good idea anymore. He was too anxious now, and he didn’t want Murphy to see him as nervous as he was. He’d see it plenty on Saturday.

He had no idea what was going to happen, but all the possibilities terrified him. What if Mbege decided he wasn’t good enough for Murphy and made him break up with him? Logically, he knew Murphy could make his own decisions, but family was a big part of his life and if Mbege didn’t like him, Murphy was probably going to see his point eventually. He had to go and he had to be on his best behavior.

._-*-_.

Bellamy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, fighting the urge to run away and never look back. He’d been standing outside Mbege’s front door for the past five minutes trying to convince himself to knock. He just couldn’t work up the courage. No matter what, this evening was not going to go well, not at all. It couldn’t. No matter how much Murphy loved him, Craig and Mbege hated his guts, and with good reason.

Mbege was going to kill him and he deserved it. It didn’t matter that Murphy loved him, he was sure Mbege was going to do his best to convince Murphy not to date him, and Bellamy was terrified that Murphy would listen.

He let the breath out slowly and raised his fist, knocking on the door. Within seconds, the door opened and the same sandy blonde-haired man he’d seen with Murphy at the coffee shop stood there grinning at him.

“I wondered how long you’d stand out here before getting the balls to knock. Murphy and I were taking bets. He said you’d stand out here at least fifteen minutes and I said that you wouldn’t even knock, you’d just ditch us and run like at the coffee shop.”

“I was just-”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Mbege is a scary guy, but I’m glad I lost the bet. Murphy’s right, now that I actually get a chance to see you when you’re not running away, you’re pretty,” Drew laughed.

“Don’t try to steal my man, Drew, I’ll kick your ass!” Bellamy heard Murphy call from the living room.

“I’m not interested in your man, bitch. I don’t need a dick, I’ve got my own!” Drew retorted, motioning for Bellamy to follow him into the house.

“It’s more fun with two, though,” Murphy shrugged, waving at Bellamy.

“I wouldn’t know, and I don’t plan to find out,” Drew shook his head, sitting down in one of the chairs.

Bellamy took a seat next to Murphy who immediately curled up next to his side, his feet tucked under him and Bellamy’s arm around him. He smiled down at Murphy before pressing a kiss to the top of his head, Murphy sighing in contentment. As much as he feared Mbege, he loved Murphy, so there was no way he was ever going to run, no matter how bad this evening ended up being.

“Fucking straight people,” Murphy muttered.

Drew just snorted and shook his head before turning his attention to Bellamy, “I’m Drew Thomas, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

“Bellamy Blake. You’re Craig’s brother, right?”

“Yeah. I’m here to help with the wedding. I can’t believe my little brother’s getting married. And to the grumpiest asshole on the planet, no less.”

“I heard that,” Mbege said, walking into the room. He stood next to Drew and crossed his arms, staring Bellamy down.

Craig was soon to follow him, wiping his hands on his t-shirt and leaving patches of water behind. “Dinner’s done.”

“Great! What are we having?” Drew asked, launching himself from the chair and flailing a little bit as he trailed to regain his balance while upright. “Please tell me it’s nachos.”

“Stir fry,” Mbege said without shifting his gaze.

Bellamy began to feel a little bit like a suspect. He wondered if this was how drug dealers felt when being interrogated by Kane. Except probably not, because Kane wasn’t as terrifying, and he couldn’t ruin their relationships with the people they loved as easily as Mbege could. All he could do was turn them into sock puppets. Bellamy kind of wished he could turn into a sock puppet right then.

“Not as cool, but okay,” Drew accepted it. “Let’s go eat, then. Come on, Mbege, he’s not going to spontaneously burst into flames just because you stare at him hard enough, the force is not with you on this one, leave him alone.”

Bellamy silently thanked whatever god was out there that Drew was there. At least he had one unbiased ally. He had Murphy, of course, but he was in love with him, and something told him that he didn’t really count in this war, for either side.

“Fine,” Mbege huffed, stalking away to the kitchen, Craig and Drew following suit.

Murphy rose from his seat and stretched, his shirt riding up to expose his lower back and Bellamy had to fight the urge to reach out and grab him and pull him into his lap. God, he wanted him so bad. It was like he’d had a taste and now he was hooked.

Murphy noticed his staring and smirked, “If you survive this and no one dies, then I’ll get you off in the back of your car tonight, sound good?”

Bellamy’s mouth went dry as he stood up, “Seriously?”

“No, I’m lying. I definitely don’t want your hand wrapped around my throat while you jerk us both off in the back of your car while any of my friends could walk by at any time and see. There’s nothing I want less,” Murphy snarked.

Bellamy felt heat stir in the pit of his stomach and he couldn’t help but reach out and pull Murphy close. He placed one hand on his neck and leaned down to kiss him, rough and hard and Murphy had to fight back a moan as Bellamy bit his bottom lip almost hard enough to draw blood. This man was going to be the death of him, Murphy was sure of it.

“Bell,” Murphy breathed out when the kiss broke. “You can’t just do that. Not here.”

“Why not?” Logically, Bellamy knew why not, but he didn’t care.

“Because it’s not like I can just take you up to my bedroom on a whim. You can’t just get me all worked up and have no fucking follow through.”

“Now you know how I felt that day when you got me hard and then decided not to fuck me,” Bellamy told him, pressing kisses to his neck.

“Stop it, before somebody notices,” Murphy told him, but there was no real conviction in his voice. He wanted nothing more than for Bellamy to continue. Ever since Tuesday he’d been dying to have Bellamy’s hands on him again, but, unfortunately, this was neither the time nor the place.

“Hmm,” Bellamy hummed, pressing on last kiss to the corner of Murphy’s mouth before pulling away. “Fine. But Mbege’s going to murder me anyway, so I may as well die happy.”

“You’re not going to die. It’s going to suck and be awkward and he’s probably going to insult you, but you won’t die. I won’t let you,” Murphy assured him, taking his hand and pulling him into the kitchen.

“Took you long enough. What, you have to give your boytoy a pep talk, so he didn’t shit himself in fear?” Craig asked, venom in his voice. Gone was the happy, loud, slightly insane squirrel chaser and in his place stood a stone cold, venomous, angry replica of Craig. Craig had always made him a little worried, but this time he it was for a whole new reason, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Fuck off,” Murphy rolled his eyes, taking a seat at the table.

Bellamy set down beside him in silence, unsure what to say. He knew this would suck, of course it would, but he hadn’t anticipated just how much. He’d liked Murphy’s family. They were a little crazy, but in a good way, and he’d found them to be enjoyable, but this time around, he felt completely unwelcome, despite the invitation he’d been issued.

“What, your pretty boy can’t handle the consequences of his mistakes? Poor baby,” Craig sniffled sarcastically.

“That’s fucking enough,” Murphy snapped. “You don’t get to act like a bitch just because you’re angry. I was the one who got hurt, not you, and if I can forgive him, so can you.”

“Do you, though?” Mbege asked, sitting down. “Do you forgive him? Honestly?”

Murphy hesitated for a second and Bellamy felt his heart sink. Of course, he knew Murphy had a right to not forgive him and asking him to was more than he deserved. Even so, it hurt knowing Murphy didn’t forgive him.

Finally, Murphy nodded, “I do, yeah. I forgive him. He didn’t mean for me to get hurt and he did everything he could to fix it, so yeah, asshole, I forgive him. Now grow the hell up, both of you, and stop being little bitches.”

Bellamy couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Murphy forgave him? He didn’t deserve that, not at all. He took Murphy’s hand under the table and gave him a smile. Murphy returned it and squeezed his hand, mouthing ‘I love you’ to him.

“Sorry,” Craig mumbled after a minute.

“Stop doing it and we’re good,” Murphy shrugged.

Craig nodded and reached for the bowl of rice on the table, putting some on his plate before passing it to Drew.

“Ah, yes, rice. I hate rice. Rice is disgusting. Here, you have it,” he said, passing it to Bellamy.

Bellamy snorted, and Drew gave him a smile, “Thanks.” He meant for more than just the rice and Drew nodded, understanding.

The dinner was nothing like the first time. There was no joking or banter, it was cold, and Bellamy swore he could feel them looking straight into his soul and he wondered if this was what it felt like when faced with the underworld’s council like in his books, being judged before they determined his fate. Knowing him, they’d sentence him to eternity in Tartarean hell, to be tormented until the end of time. And honestly? He deserved it. They were right to hate him. He even hated himself, which wasn’t really a new thing, but now he had another reason for it.

They finished eating in silence, Drew fidgeting in his seat, bothered by the quiet. He didn’t see why it was such a big deal. Murphy loved the guy, they should be supportive. But, then again, he hadn’t been around to see the fallout, so maybe they had a good reason to hate him. Still, it wasn’t fair of them to act the way they were. It was only going to hurt Murphy in the end if they didn’t support him. He’d have to talk to them about it later, he decided.

“So, anyone wanna play board games after this?” Drew asked, forcing himself to remain cheerful despite the tense atmosphere that surrounded them.

No one answered, so he shrunk in on himself, deciding it was best to keep quiet and not disrupt the proceedings until later. He volunteered to help Mbege clean the kitchen, which was good, because Bellamy wasn’t sure he’d be able to help again, even though his manners made him want to offer. It was best to avoid being alone with Mbege for the time being.

Craig, Murphy and Bellamy retreated to the living room where the silence continued, Craig biting his tongue to keep his comments to himself. He didn’t want to start a fight with Murphy, no matter how much he hated Bellamy. But seeing Murphy cuddling up to the man who had destroyed his life was nearly too much to take. Murphy could forgive him easily enough, but he was going to hold onto his grudge until Bellamy proved beyond a shadow of a doubt he was never going to hurt Murphy again. Then and only then would he think about maybe being nice to him. And even then, only maybe.

Once the dishes were done, Drew popped back up, a bowl of popcorn in one hand a few DVDs in the other. He set the popcorn down on the table and read out the titles for everyone, so they could choose. Nobody said anything, instead Mbege and Craig chose to stare Bellamy down some more, which was really getting old in Murphy’s opinion and Bellamy chose to focus all his attention on Murphy, running a hand through his hair as he lay in his lap.

“Just pick one, Drew,” Murphy sighed, glaring back at his friends.

“How about Home?” Drew smiled, opening the DVD case. “Nobody can be mad while watching Home. It’s impossible. Besides, we all need a break from wedding planning and a movie will fix everything. Home okay, Bell?”

Bellamy just shrugged, not really caring. All he wanted was to leave and take Murphy with him. On one hand, he loved being around Murphy and he could stay in this position forever, but on the other, he was getting tired of being stared at and eventually he was going to snap and make things worse. So, it was probably best if he just left. But only if he could take Murphy with him. He was sure he’d be more comfortable at his place where he wouldn’t have to listen to the lectures Bellamy was sure he was going to get when he was gone. But, as long as he didn’t fuck anything up, they wouldn’t be able to find anything new to complain about.

The movie fixed nothing, much to Drew’s disappointment, though Mbege and Craig finally stopped glaring at Bellamy and instead turned their attention towards each other, Craig having crawled in Mbege’s lap so that they could not so quietly shit talk Bellamy.

“I don’t know why he likes him. He’s just an asshole with a badge. And Murphy fucking hates cops, do you know how many cop cars he’s vandalized?”

“I have half a mind to throw a brick at his windshield, myself. While he’s in it.”

“Now there’s an idea,” Craig muttered, giving Bellamy another glare.

Bellamy just sighed. This was the tensest movie he’d ever watched. As cute as it was, it was no match for the hatred coming off of the two of them. He was beginning to wonder why they’d invited him if they were only going to glare at him. At the very least they could grill him about his relationship with Murphy or something. Anything. Hell, they could grill him about the one time in sixth grade when he’d stolen test answers for a girl he liked. He hadn’t been caught, but the guilt was enough to make him nearly turn himself in. Nearly. They could grill him about anything, as long as it broke the tension.

Finally, Craig let out a groan and got off of Mbege’s lap. “I’m done. Come on, Murphy, let’s go look at invitations. We’ve got to send them out by the end of next week, so we might as well order them now.”

Murphy sighed and looked up at Bellamy apologetically.

“It’s fine. Go,” Bellamy smiled down at him.

As Murphy raised up he pressed a kiss to Bellamy’s lips, keeping it chaste and sweet despite how much he wanted to put heat behind it just to show off in front of Craig and Mbege, just to prove how much he loved Bellamy, but he knew that would only cause problems, so he didn’t. He’d save all it for later tonight.

He stood and followed Craig towards the study, Drew crying out, “Take me with you!” as he followed after them.

A tense silence fell around Bellamy and Mbege, both of them having been left behind. Bellamy cleared his throat, trying to find something to say, “So, uh-”

“That damned little alien is fucking adorable,” Mbege said, cutting him off.

Bellamy just nodded, realizing Mbege didn’t want to make conversation.

But, it wasn’t really that. Mbege just didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to outright insult Bellamy, but he wanted to convey exactly how much he’d hurt Murphy, how much he’d fucked up, and why he didn’t trust him, without being a complete ass. He wanted to have a respectful conversation, but he wasn’t sure where to start. He didn’t outright hate Bellamy, not like Craig seemed to, but he didn’t trust him, especially not around Murphy. However, Murphy was stubborn. When he loved someone, he loved hard and nothing could change his mind. So, there was nothing Mbege could do. No matter how much he trashed Bellamy or how many lectures he gave, Murphy wasn’t going to budge. So, there was nothing he could do to keep him from getting hurt. He’d just have to make sure he was ready when Bellamy flaked out on him.

After having enough of the silence, Bellamy sighed. “Look, I know you hate me, and you have every right to, but I’m sorry. I really am. I regret what happened every day. I’m so sorry.”

Mbege looked at him for a long moment, not glaring, just studying him, like he was trying to understand him and why he’d done what he did. Then, “He cried for days, you know. He trusted you and you broke him. Because of you he lost everything, and yet for some reason he took you back.”

“I know, I _know._ And I have no idea why he took me back, but I love him and-”

“He loves you, right. It's so romantic, just like a movie. But it's not a fucking movie, it's real life and he worked so fucking hard and you ruined that,” Mbege snapped. Bellamy had ruined Murphy’s life. He’d destroyed everything he worked so hard for just because he was too selfish to tell him the truth. If he had been upfront about it, sure, maybe he would have lost Murphy, but instead, he’d kept it a secret and Murphy had lost _everything._ It wasn’t fair of Bellamy to treat this like some kind of romance novel when it wasn’t. As far as Mbege was concerned, they were in the middle of a horror story. A fucking Stephen King novel, minus the homophobic undertone and oversexualized female characters. It wasn’t going to end well for Murphy and as his brother, Mbege had the right to try to stop that, and if he couldn’t get to Murphy, maybe he could get to Bellamy, except it seemed he was just as hardheaded and stupidly deluded as Murphy was. Fucking idiots were perfect for each other.

Bellamy shook his head and held his hands out, trying to get Mbege to understand. “I tried to stop Kane-”

“Not hard enough. You let Murphy fall in love with you, you let him believe he had a future with you, and then you fucked it all up.” And it wasn’t fucking _fair._  

“I know, I wanted to tell him, but I just couldn't.”

“Why not? What was so important that you had to lie to him and let him get attached to you instead of being straight with him?”

“I didn't want to lose him.” It was so simple, so stupid, and Bellamy hated himself so much for it. If he’d only been straight about it, if he’d just trusted Murphy to understand, things would have been so different. Maybe he would have lost him, but it would have been worth it if it would have prevented all the pain Murphy went through, but Bellamy hadn’t thought about that. He’d only thought about himself and how much losing Murphy would hurt _him._ He hadn’t even considered what would happen to Murphy if things turned out like they had. He was so stupid.

“So, you broke him instead.”

Bellamy sighed and nodded, giving in, “I fucked up.”

“Yeah, you did,” Mbege said, leaning back in his chair. This wasn’t going to work, he could tell that right now. He wasn’t going to be able to convince them not to see each other. He wouldn’t be able to prevent the pain Murphy would go through this time. All he could do was try his best to be supportive and prepare for the inevitable.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I never wanted to hurt him, and I know I did but I never meant to and if I had known what would have happened I would have never started a relationship with him.”

“Yes, you would have.” Of course, he would have. It wasn’t just because he was selfish, but because, and Mbege really believed it, no matter how much he hated it, Bellamy really did love Murphy. Those two fools were destined for failure, but they just couldn’t help themselves. Mbege felt sorry for them. He knew what it was like to be in love, and he would have been happy for Murphy, if he were in love with literally anybody else.

“You're probably right.” Bellamy probably would have pursued a relationship with Murphy. He needed him in his life, he couldn’t bear the thought of going another day without, let alone the rest of his life. He’d been drawn to the boy since he met him, even though he’d hated him, it was the only reason he’d even spoken to him instead of ignoring him like he did ever other reporter. Something about him made him want to talk to him, even if it was just to call him a vulture and tell him to fuck off. It was no surprise he’d fallen for him, he was exactly his type. He was beyond perfect, every one of his flaws only made Bellamy love him more. Of course, he would have pursued a relationship with him, he just would have done things differently. He’d have told him the truth from the beginning and prevented this whole mess.

“Of course, I am.”

Bellamy chuckled and nodded. Mbege was quite wise for someone so young. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, but he spoke with the wisdom of a sage. Even though he hated him, Bellamy still found himself liking the guy. He was glad Murphy had someone like him in his corner, even if he was currently working against Bellamy.

After another moment of silence, this one much less tense than the last, Bellamy asked, “Are you going to punch me again?”

Mbege raised an eyebrow, “Should I?”

“Probably,” Bellamy admitted. He hadn’t done anything to deserve it this time around, but he still deserved a lot more than one punch for his mistakes last time.

Mbege just snorted and turned his attention back to the movie.

._-*-_.

“Fucking finally,” Murphy said, closing the door of the house behind him. “It took us a whole ten minutes to pick out the right invitations and then another twenty for Craig and Drew to argue about how he was treating Bellamy, during which time my opinion wasn’t allowed because I was quote unquote ‘biased.’”

Bellamy laughed and put his arms around Murphy, “Well, you kind of are.”

“That’s not the point! If anything, my opinion should count more because I’m the one dating you, which means I’m the one who has to undo any damage they do.”

“They didn’t do any damage.”

“Liar.”

“Okay, so there was a little damage done, but I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but if they keep it up you’re just going to get tired of it and leave me,” Murphy sighed, resting his head on Bellamy’s shoulder. “I don’t want that.”

“That’s not going to happen, baby. Not ever. I love you, regardless of what they think. And I can take a lot more than that, honestly. I’m a cop, remember? Do you know how much shit suspects say to me on a daily basis? I’ll be fine. I’m not going to leave you just because they don’t like me,” Bellamy assured him.

“You promise?” Murphy asked quietly.

“I promise,” Bellamy nodded.

Murphy smiled and raised his head to kiss him, putting into it all the passion he’d held back throughout the day. His hands found Bellamy’s chest and worked at the buttons, trying to rid him of his shirt as quickly as possible.

Bellamy pulled back with a laugh, “You can’t just take my clothes off right here.”

“Then get in the car,” Murphy said, walking backwards towards Bellamy’s car. He didn’t stop until his back was pressed against the back end of it as he waited for Bellamy to unlock it. “Hurry the hell up.”

“Pushy, pushy. Since when are you the boss of me?” Bellamy asked, raising an eyebrow at him as he unlocked and open the car door. He didn’t get a chance to say anything else before Murphy was shoving him into the back seat and climbing in behind him.

“Look here, asshole, I’ve been fantasizing about you fucking me since last Tuesday. I’ve been horny all fucking week because of you and if you think I’m going to wait another fucking minute for you to do it again, you’re fucking nuts. Now get your fucking clothes off and fuck me,” Murphy demanded, pulling off his own shirt and straddling Bellamy’s hips. “ _Now._ ”

Bellamy chuckled, resting his hands on Murphy’s hips, “That’s not how this works, sweetheart. I’m in charge here, remember? And if you don’t behave, I’m going to cuff you to the grab handle, get you so worked up you’re begging me to let you come, and then I’m going to go back inside and play checkers with Drew until I think you’ve learned your lesson. Understand me?”

Murphy let out a whine, “Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, sir,” Murphy said, feeling heat stir in his groin. He needed Bellamy so badly and the thought of him tying him up and leaving him hot and bothered was too much for him. “Please, Bellamy, I need you to touch me.”

“Then take your pants off, baby,” Bellamy instructed.

“You don’t have to call me baby,” Murphy said, sliding off Bellamy’s lap and unzipping his jeans.

“What do you want me to call you, then?” Bellamy asked, watching Murphy. “Boxers, too. All of it off.”

“Yes, sir,” Murphy nodded, pulling off his shoes and clothes and letting them fall into a pile on the floorboard before turning back to Bellamy. “You’re still dressed.”

 “I am. I’ll fix that,” Bellamy said, looking down at himself, he’d been so busy watching Murphy that he’d forgotten about himself. He began to take off his clothes, leaving his shirt on, though unbuttoned. When he was undressed enough, he turned back to Murphy. “So, what do you want me to call you?”

Murphy shrugged, looking anywhere but Bellamy, “I don’t know. Just, whatever you want to, I guess.”

“Murphy,” Bellamy ordered, taking Murphy’s chin in his hand and forcing him to look at him. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, not about anything. I already told you, I’ll give you whatever you want, and I mean that, but I can’t do that if I don’t know what it is. So, what do you want me to call you?”

Murphy struggled not to shrug again, “Just like, if you want, maybe-”

“Murphy,” Bellamy demanded, his voice harsh and rough.

That snapped Murphy out of it. He swallowed hard, “Whore?”

“You want me to call you a whore?”

“Or slut. Bitch, maybe. Whatever you want to, unless you’re uncomfortable with it, then baby is fine,” Murphy said, toying with the seatbelt. He had no choice but to meet Bellamy’s gaze, but he wanted nothing more than to climb under a rock. Usually the guys he went home with already knew what he wanted, or at least had some idea, and he rarely told the guys he dated this soon, if at all. He’d never told Richards, he wasn’t able to, he knew Richards couldn’t give that to him, but Bellamy, he could, it was just a matter of whether or not he was willing.

Bellamy nodded, “Alright, then. Whatever you want, Murphy.”

“Yeah?” Murphy asked, perking up a little. “You don’t think it’s weird?”

“No, not even close,” Honestly, Bellamy had been in relationships with people with weirder kinks. He’d even done something similar to this before, and apparently, he’d been good at it, so he was more than aware of what to do. The only reason he hadn’t completely taken charge was because he didn’t really know Murphy’s limits, yet, nor all the things he was into, and he didn’t want to fuck up. They’d have to have a discussion about that sometime soon. Really soon.

Murphy smiled and relaxed, “Then fuck me already.”

“Then get your ass over here,” Bellamy ordered, adjusting himself so that Murphy could comfortably sit on his lap. “And say please next time. You will show me respect, or I swear, I won’t touch you at all and I’ll make you get yourself off while I watch.”

“Sorry, sir,” Murphy mumbled, crawling onto Bellamy’s lap. “Please touch me, Bell.”

“Not yet,” Bellamy smirked, resting his hands on Murphy’s thighs, so close to where Murphy wanted them, just to torture him. “So, what was that that you didn’t want me to do?”

Murphy squirmed, feeling Bellamy’s hands burning into his skin. “I wanted you to, fuck, can you just-”

“No,” Bellamy said harshly, taking his hands away completely and making Murphy whine. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want you to jack me off, both of us at the same time, with your other hand around my throat so I can barely breathe. Want you to call me a whore, call me yours, and make me beg to be allowed to come,” Murphy told him, reaching out and running his hands across Bellamy’s chest. “Want you to do that thing you did last time, where you kept going until I begged you to stop. Want you to keep going until I can’t stand it. _Please._ ”

“Okay, okay. But you gotta tell me if I go to far. Do you have a safe word?” Bellamy asked, running his fingers across Murphy’s hips, letting his fingernails gently scrape his skin, drawing a shiver from him.

Murphy shrugged, “Not really. I like the stoplight system. It’s easier to remember. You know what that is?”

“Green for okay, yellow for slow down and discuss, and red for stop, right?” This wasn’t the first time Bellamy had done this. He had quite a bit of knowledge about this kind of thing. Hell, he liked it, even, he just didn’t get much of a chance to do it. Murphy being interested in this was like a dream come true, honestly.

“Yeah,” Murphy said, squirming as Bellamy let his hands wander closer to his dick. He wanted him to touch him, he was already half hard and it wouldn’t take much to get him ready to go. “ _Please._ ”

“Alright, baby. You want me to keep going, right? Till when?” He needed to know when Murphy wanted him to stop, a limit to keep him from hurting him.

“Until I can’t take it. Until I say red. Is that okay?” Murphy asked, closing his eyes and moaning when Bellamy finally ran a hand across his dick.

“Of course, it is, Murphy. Whatever the hell you want, baby.” Bellamy said, taking Murphy into his hand and stroking him lightly, feeling him harden the rest of the way.

Murphy tipped his head back, letting out a quiet moan. “Bell, stop teasing.”

“No,” Bellamy smirked, leaning forward to press a kiss to the side of Murphy’s mouth before trailing kisses down his neck, whispering as he went, “I’m going to tease you until you can’t fucking stand it. Until you’re so hard it hurts. Until you’re begging me to stop and just let you come. And you’re not going to fucking complain about it, are you? Because you’re so desperate for me to touch you, you’re practically gagging for it. Because you’re such a fucking whore that you can’t even go a week without needing to be fucked.”

Murphy whined and bucked his hips, Bellamy’s words going straight to his dick. All he wanted was for Bellamy to grip him hard and stroke him off, rough and fast, but he wasn’t going to get that. He wasn’t going to get what he wanted. He was at Bellamy’s mercy and he fucking loved it. He wasn’t allowed to complain, he had to behave himself for Bellamy, had to be good.

“Sit still or I’ll bend you over my fucking knee and teach you a lesson, you little bitch,” Bellamy growled, tightening his grip for a moment and running a fingernail across the bundle of nerves on the underside of Murphy’s cock, making him jerk and buck his hips again.

Murphy moaned, precum leaking from his dick. “Bell, fuck, please stop teasing. I need you, I can’t fucking take it. Please, detective, I’ll be good, I promise, just please stop teasing me.”

“You’ll be good, hmm? I bet you will. You’ll do anything I say, won’t you? If I told you to drop to your knees, you’d do it, wouldn’t you? If I told you to get yourself off for me right now, give me a show, you’d do it. You’d do anything for me, wouldn’t you? Because you’re a whore. You’re _my_ whore, aren’t you?” Bellamy asked, using his free hand to tangle in Murphy’s hair, holding him still so he could suck a bruise into his neck. Bellamy was hard himself, his erection straining against his stomach, begging to be touched. Every moan he drew out of Murphy, every time he begged, it went straight to his dick. He wasn’t going to be able to tease Murphy for too long before needing to get them both off. “Tell me, baby. Tell me you’re my whore.”

Murphy groaned and arched his neck into Bellamy’s touch. He swallowed hard and bucked his hips again, unable to help himself. He needed more stimulation, he needed Bellamy. He wished they had time for Bellamy to pin him down and fuck him, rough and hard without caring about Murphy’s pleasure, just using him to get himself off. That’s what he wanted. He wanted Bellamy to use him, needed him to.

Bellamy growled and tightened his grip on Murphy’s hair, pulling it hard to the side to expose Murphy’s neck so that he could mark him up, claim him as his own, drawing a loud moan from the boy. “Tell me, Murphy. Say it!”

Murphy opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a whimper as Bellamy bit down on his neck hard enough to leave a bruise. He felt his dick twitch in Bellamy’s hand and reached out, taking Bellamy’s cock into his hand and stroking him, wanting to please him. He tried again, panting out, “I-I’m your whore. I’m yours and yours a-alone. Yours to fuck, to use. I’m your sl-slut, always ready to be fucked by you. I belong to you, Bell. I’m your whore.”

Bellamy smiled and began to suck another mark into Murphy’s neck, biting down as hard as he could and drawing another whimper from the squirming boy. He drew back as Murphy once again bucked his hips into his hand, trying to get more friction as Bellamy teased him. “Think you’ve had enough teasing?”

Murphy nodded, rasping out, “Please, sir, I want to come. Let me, please. I need it so badly. Been fantasizing about you all fucking week and getting myself off isn’t enough.”

Bellamy smirked at him, letting go of his cock and reaching for his hips to pull him closer so he could jerk them both off. “Yeah? You got yourself off thinking about me? Tell me, how many times did you do it? How fucking hard were you thinking about me?”

Murphy groaned and dropped his head to Bellamy’s shoulder, reaching down to touch himself but Bellamy slapped his hand away. “Hand behind your back. Now!”

Murphy obeyed, reluctantly putting his hands behind his back and whining because he could no longer touch himself or Bellamy. “ _Please!_ ”

“I’ll touch you when you answer my question. Tell me how often you got yourself off thinking about me. I bet it was daily. Got yourself off thinking about my cock in your ass. Filling you up and fucking you so rough and hard that you feel it for days. You’re such a slut for me, aren’t you? Such a fucking slut, baby,” Bellamy told him, rubbing circles into his hips, “Now, answer my question.”

“Daily, yeah. Sometimes more than once. Got myself off in the bathroom of a bar last night thinking about you. Couldn’t wait to get home. Thought about you ordering me to my knees right there in the stall so I could suck you off,” Murphy told him, a little shyly. He’d been so hard thinking about Bellamy’s fingers in his ass and his hand around his cock and he hadn’t been able to make it home, he’d gotten so hard that he’d had to go to the bathroom to take care of it, biting his lip to keep back his moans as he thought of Bellamy ordering him to his knees on the floor and fucking his mouth, using him like the slut he was. He’d came so hard knowing that anyone could have guessed what he was doing, even though he tried to be discreet.

“Yeah, baby? Want me to fuck you in public? Where anyone could walk in on us and see you getting fucked like the whore you are?” Bellamy asked, running his hands up Murphy’s sides and across his chest until he reached his nipples. He ran a finger over each other buds, drawing a shudder from Murphy who whined out another plea to be touched as Bellamy leaned forward and took one of them into his mouth, licking at it for a moment before biting down, Murphy gasping above him.

Murphy had to fight to keep his hands behind him as Bellamy’s mouth worked at his nipples, licking and biting and teasing him some more. “I th-thought you said you were d-done teasing me?” He gasped out, his voice breaking as he fought to be able to speak.

“Hmm, did I?” Bellamy hummed, pulling back. “Alright, then. Tell me what you want me to do.”

“I want you to wrap your hand around my throat and choke me while you jerk us both off,” Murphy told him, impatient as his cock strained against his chest, purple and leaking. He was so hard it hurt and all he wanted was to come. “Please, detective, I need to come.”

Bellamy just nodded and raised his hand to Murphy’s throat, gently stroking his skin as Murphy sucked in a shuddery breath, the anticipation killing him.

“ _Please, Bell, please,_ ” he whimpered.

“I don’t know. Something tells me if I keep going, you’ll come without me even touching you. Think you can?” Bellamy teased.

“ _Bell._ ”

“Alright, baby, alright. If I go too far, or you start to pass out, let me know. If that happens, I want you to tap my hand twice, okay?” Bellamy wanted to make sure Murphy was safe. He’d done this before and he knew what to watch for, but he wanted to make sure Murphy had an out, just in case he couldn’t use the safe word.

Murphy just nodded, his pupils blown, and his face flushed. He looked so desperate that it made Bellamy’s own dick ache.

Bellamy tightened his grip around Murphy’s throat, squeezing the sides and putting enough pressure to cut off the blood flow but not enough to hurt his trachea. He didn’t want to have to drive him to the hospital, that would be a nightmare.

Murphy gasped as his head grew foggy, the feeling pleasant and terrifying all at once. He loved being at Bellamy’s mercy. If he pressed any harder, he could hurt him, and Murphy loved the thought. Bellamy was in charge, he was so good at this, making Murphy feel like a whore, hurting him just enough to make him beg to come. He was better than any dom Murphy had ever been with and he got to do this regularly now. Bellamy belonged to him just as much as he belonged to Bellamy.

Murphy nearly screamed when Bellamy finally took their dicks into his hand, the contact sending a wave of pleasure through Murphy’s body. Finally, finally he was being touched, not just teased. Bellamy set a brutal pace, rough and fast and Murphy saw stars. He felt lightheaded and dizzy and he never wanted the feeling to go away. It was a rush, a high like he’d never had before. As much as the teasing tortured him, the payoff was amazing. He wasn’t going to last long like this. Not with as much as Bellamy had already put him through. He tried to tell Bellamy that but all that came out were raspy half words that made no sense.

“I know, baby, I know. It’s okay,” Bellamy said, speeding up his pace. He was so close himself, watching Murphy writhe in pleasure was tipping him over the edge much sooner than he’d anticipated. That was okay, he didn’t mind. He knew he could last longer if he tried, he could go for quite a while, actually, but with Murphy being so close, there was no need. “You look so pretty like this, you know that? All fucked out and desperate, like a cheap fucking whore. Makes me wanna pin you down and fuck you like one. Wanna put my dick in you, fill you up so good. Bet you’d be so tight for me. Bet you’d be such a good little slut and let me fuck you any way I wanted. I’d fuck you so hard you wouldn’t be able to walk the next morning. Leave bruises all over you, mark you up, claim you as mine. You’re my whore, aren’t you, baby? My little bitch. Such a pretty little slut, so desperate to get off. It’s okay, you can come. Come for me, Murphy.”

That was all it took. Bellamy’s pace and the filthy things he said had Murphy spilling over his hand, his eyes closed and his mouth open in a silent scream of pleasure. Bellamy let go of his throat and Murphy gasped, sucking in air, the flood of oxygen sending a rush to his brain that made his orgasm that much stronger.

Bellamy watched him, reveling in the faces he made and with a quiet moan, he came, following after Murphy. He let go of his own dick and focused all his efforts on Murphy who was panting and squirming under his ministrations, the overstimulation driving him crazy.

“Bell, I can’t- Oh, fuck, Bell, please,” Murphy moaned, dropping his head to Bellamy’s shoulder, his hands still behind his back.

“You can use your hands now, Murphy, it’s okay,” Bellamy told him, speeding his pace back up. He ran his thumb across the head and rubbed on the little bundle of nerves until Murphy tried jerking away, his body fighting against him.

Murphy whimpered, “Bell, please, I can’t take it. You can’t- Oh, fuck, Bell!” He brought his hands up to hold onto Bellamy as he shook, the overstimulation becoming too much.

Bellamy slowed his pace a little. “If you want me to stop, you gotta say it,” he whispered, using his other hand to steady Murphy.

Murphy shook his head, not yet ready to give in. He loved the pain that mixed with the overwhelming pleasure and racked his body, but if was quickly becoming too much for him to handle. He held out a few more seconds before rasping out, “Red.”

Bellamy stopped, his hand stilling. He let go of Murphy who lay against him, panting and shaking. He brought his arms up to wrap around him, holding him close as he caught his breath.

Murphy pressed his face into Bellamy’s neck, bringing his arms up and pressing his hands against Bellamy’s chest, reassuring himself that he was real and there, and it hadn’t been a dream.

“You okay, baby?” Bellamy asked quietly, stroking Murphy’s hair.

“Yeah,” Murphy whispered against Bellamy’s skin, sending a shiver down his spine. “’M fine.”

“Need anything?”

“Water?” Murphy asked, pulling back and trying to sit up. He managed after a moment, his hands still on Bellamy’s chest for balance.

“I’ve got a couple bottles under the seat. Give me a second.” Bellamy groped under the seat for a bottle, finding one and pulling it out. He twisted the cap off and held it out to Murphy, who took it gratefully and gulped it down, downing half the bottle before stopping to catch his breath. “Are you alright?”

Murphy nodded, wiping his mouth. “We need to clean up.”

Bellamy looked down at his hand and chuckled, “Yeah, I guess we do. Here, I’ve got wipes in the console.” He leaned forward and opened it, awkwardly pulling out the package of wet wipes he kept stashed there for occasions when he spilled something, or someone got blood in his car. His car wasn’t meant to transport suspects, but there were times when it was unavoidable.

He opened the package and pulled a few out, wiping down his hand and stomach before grabbing a clean one and wiping down Murphy who hummed in contentment.

“I love you,” Murphy murmured when he was done, leaning back against his chest and adjusting his legs so he was more comfortable.

“I love you, too, baby. So much,” Bellamy told him, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

They stayed like that for a while, Murphy curled up against Bellamy chest with Bellamy’s arms around him, content to just lay there.

“So, was it alright?” Bellamy asked after a few minutes.

“Oh, yeah,” Murphy laughed. “Honestly, you’re the best I’ve ever been with and I’m not just stroking your ego.”

Bellamy smiled, “Good, cause I wanna be your last.”

“I can live with that,” Murphy said, pressing a kiss to Bellamy’s chin. “But I’ve got to get dressed and go inside before they think you kidnapped me.”

“I could kidnap you, if you want me to,” Bellamy offered.

“I’d love to let you, but I can’t. If I ditch them tonight they’ll never forgive me. We’ve got to finish deciding what decorations we need so we can meet with the venue coordinator and get a general game plan going. She’s got a team to put them up, and they supply them, but we’ve got to decide what we want and if we need to order anything specific and it’s all a big mess and please, please kidnap me,” Murphy begged.

“It sounds like you need to go help Craig. I wouldn’t want him to murder me because I stole you away from an important project,” Bellamy laughed.

“He won’t kill you. And he’s not actually that angry at you. He’s just terrified because of the wedding and how short notice it is and how much there’s left to do. He’s just being bitchy. I promise, it’s not just you. He’s been snapping at everyone for the past two months. In fact, he nearly punched me one day. The only reason I didn’t kick is ass is because he’s basically my brother and I love him, but damn, he’s getting on my nerves.”

“Bridezilla?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, put your pants on and go slip some whiskey into his coffee and all will be good,” Bellamy joked.

“No way. A drunk Craig is even worse to deal with. If he’s going to be drunk, I’m going to be drunk, and I can’t get drunk because I have to go look at an apartment at nine tomorrow,” Murphy sighed. “Maybe a Xanax, though.”

“That’s illegal,” Bellamy scolded.

“So’s murder. Which is worse?”

Bellamy just laughed and shook his head.

“Alright, fine, I’ll go, but you’re taking me out Friday,” Murphy told him.

“Where am I taking you?”

“Anywhere. I don’t care. Be as cheesy as you like.”

Bellamy grinned, “I think I know what we should do.”

“Yeah? What?” Murphy asked, pulling away from Bellamy and grabbing his pants.

“Oh, no. I’m not telling. It’ll be a surprise.”

“You and your goddamn surprises,” Murphy grumbled.

“You like my surprises, though,” Bellamy said, pulling on his own pants.

“Yeah, well, I’d like to know what the hell we’re doing, so I know how to dress for once.”

“Dress like normal, it’s fine,” Bellamy told him. “But wear your hair up. You look sexy like that.”

“I thought I looked sexy all the time?”

“You do, but the ponytail makes you look sexier.”

Murphy just grinned and pulled on his shirt. He pressed a quick kiss to Bellamy’s lips and opened the door. Bellamy grabbed his hand before he could leave and pulled him back. “What?”

“That’s not a fucking kiss,” Bellamy grinned.

“Then show me what a proper one is,” Murphy smirked.

“You do realize what that stupid smirk does to me, right?” Bellamy asked as Murphy turned back to face him.

“I’d imagine it does a lot of things to a lot of people. Mostly inspires annoyance or irritation, sometimes rage. Tell me, what does it do to you?” Murphy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Makes me wanna wipe it off your stupid face,” Bellamy told him, pulling him into a kiss. He nipped at Murphy's bottom lip, much more gently than usual and ran his tongue across it to soothe the pain. Murphy parted his lips, so Bellamy could deepen it. Bellamy wrapped his tongue around Murphy’s and tangled his hand in Murphy’s hair, pulling gently. Murphy let out a quiet moan and reached up to rest his hand on Bellamy’s neck. Bellamy explored his mouth lazily, like it was something he did everyday before withdrawing and giving one last nip to Murphy’s lips before pulling away. “That’s a fucking kiss.”

“Was it? Maybe you should go ahead and do it again, I didn’t quite understand the first time,” Murphy said, that stupid smirk back on his face.

“Get out of my car, asshole,” Bellamy laughed, shoving him gently. “Don’t you have a wedding planning party to attend?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Murphy groaned, climbing out of the car. “It’s not fair, you get to go home and do whatever the fuck you want, I’ve got to deal with bridezilla.”

“Give him a break. Planning a wedding is hard and getting married is even harder. He’s going through a lot right now, just try to keep him calm and help him as best you can. He’ll go back to normal once it’s all over. It’ll be alright. And, I mean, if it doesn’t help, you can go ahead with the Xanax idea and I promise not to arrest you,” Bellamy joked.

“Good, cause you’ve done enough of that to last a lifetime,” Murphy snorted.

The smile on Bellamy’s face disappeared for a moment, but then he shook his head and it was back, “Go, try to have fun with it. It’s not everyday you get to plan a wedding.”

“Yeah, well, if I’m ever this bitchy while planning our wedding, you’ve got permission to punch me in the face. Repeatedly,” Murphy sighed, rubbing his eyes. “I hope we finish soon, I need a nap.”

Bellamy just grinned. _Our wedding._ Murphy had really just said that. He wanted to comment on it, but he wasn’t sure what to say, so instead he just climbed out of the car and wrapped his arms around Murphy, giving him a peck on the cheek before pulling away and saying, “Goodnight, baby. I’ll see you later.”

“Night, Bell. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Gonna show up at my work?”

“Yes. I like it there. Miller and Monroe are cool, and Harper’s nice. Plus, there’s fish.”

“You come for the fish?”

“No, I come for you. I stay for the fish,” Murphy laughed. “Alright, I’m gonna go in before they realize why I was gone so long.”

Bellamy looked down at his watch, “You’ve only been out here for thirty minutes, I don’t imagine they’ll think much happened.”

“I’ll just tell them I was doing damage control and make them feel guilty for being jackasses.”

“You don’t have to. I get it, it’s fine,” Bellamy shrugged.

“What happened after I left the room, anyway?” Murphy asked.

“I’ll tell you some other time, okay? Give me some time to process it, because I’m not really sure what happened, to be honest.” He wasn’t sure if Mbege was going to murder him or if they were on their way to repairing their relationship. He needed a few days to really think about what he’d said so he could figure out where they were at. “Ask me in a couple weeks. I’ll tell you then.”

“Okay, but on Wednesday I don’t have any apartment viewings or potential interviews, so I’m coming home with you after work. We’ve got some stuff to discuss.”

“Do we?” Had he done something wrong?

“Don’t look so worried. We just need to figure out where we’re at with the whole kink thing,” Murphy assured him. “Just so we’re on the same page.”

“Ah, okay. Yeah, that’s something that needs to be discussed. I need to know your limits,” Bellamy agreed.

“And we need to discuss yours, too. And whether or not you actually want to be my dom.”

“Of course, I do. I’m your boyfriend, it’s not like I’m going to let you go find someone else to do it.” Bellamy smirked, “Besides, I like watching you squirm.”

“You fucking sadist,” Murphy huffed. “You just-”

“Murphy! What the hell is taking so long? You two going through the whole of the Kama Sutra in that backseat or something?” Drew called from the doorway.

“We’re just talking,” Murphy called back. “I gotta go. Goodnight, Bell. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Murph. Best of luck with bridezilla,” Bellamy told him, giving him a quick kiss before he walked away.

Murphy sighed and rolled his eyes at Drew on his way to the door. “We were just talking.”

“I believe you,” Drew grinned. “But I don’t think the others will.”

“Why the hell not?” Murphy snapped.

“Because your shirt wasn’t backwards when you left.”

“Fucking shit,” Murphy grumbled, pulling his shirt off and fixing it. “Stop laughing, asshole, it’s not funny.”

“Don’t worry, Murph, I’m not gonna tell anybody. If you wanna screw your boyfriend in the backseat of his car, go right ahead. It’s a free country. You have that right.”

“Actually, sodomy and all forms of gay sex are forbidden in several states,” Murphy informed him.

“Yeah, well, this is Cali, my flamboyant friend, the land of gay pride, where everyone shoots rainbows from their asses and owns a minimum of three pride flags,” Drew told him, walking into the house. “Even I own a few.”

“And for some reason, they’re in your living room. Along with a very tasteful portrait of a feline alien queen. Your interior decorating skills are unparalleled,” Murphy snarked.

“Damn right, they are.”

Murphy just laughed as he followed him into the study.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is loved. I'll probs update my tumblr (and I hope to fuck my old url is still available, bc I wanna be assholemurphy again) so ya'll cats can scream at me there and kick my ass when I don't update soon enough.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the next chapter has smut, too, but that's it for a while. However, if you want more smut, check out my newest fic (which I will post sometime within the next hour) bc that's what 95% of it is. The rest is just Murphy being an asshole, Bellamy being sweet, and their relationship drama as it unfolds. I can't wait to figure out where the fuck it's going. No, seriously, I've plotted 39 chaps and I still don't have an ending in mind. In fact, it's not even close to where it can end. I need help. Professional or pharmaceutical, either one works for me.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Murphy spent a lot of time down at the station. He was there almost every day. He’d mainly hang out with Bellamy and bother him at work, but he’d do it under the guise of being mainly there for stories, which is what he told Kane whenever he asked.

Of course, he did get quite a few stories for his blog, which meant he was competing with the bigger papers, because he had eyewitness accounts, too. He got them straight from the cops, and sometimes even the suspects. He hated crime with a passion, but if it got him noticed, he didn’t care. He stayed away from the gorier stories, preferring to keep to things like burglaries or what have you, but his favorites to cover were the ones that crossed over into human and political waters. Corrupt officers, police brutality, and the occasional vigilante, those were where his heart lied. He loved being involved in politics, in human subjects, anything that dealt with the forces controlling the lives of the people in their society. He still chased other stories, but not as often, after all, there’s only so many times you can follow the mayor when he went out of the office before it was called stalking and he got a restraining order placed on him. Things would be different when he got hired by an actual paper, but for now, it was best to stick to things he couldn’t get arrested for asking about.

And it didn’t matter how often he was there. He came around nearly daily and yet Kane never kicked him out, he simply walked past him like he belonged there as much as the desks did. It wasn’t that he really liked him, exactly, it was that he couldn’t really bring himself to kick him out because, honestly, Murphy wasn’t as bad as he’d thought he would be and he still felt a bit guilty for what happened to him. So, he just let him stay, merely shrugging whenever Murphy had asked him if he could and saying;

“Why the fuck not. It's already a circus in here, what's one more clown?”

Murphy had smirked and replied, “I actually think I'd do better as a magician.”

Kane had simply closed his eyes and walked away, shaking his head and muttering about how he needed to start selling tickets to this freakshow.

Murphy was actually pretty well-liked by most, especially Monroe and Miller, and he could be found bothering them whenever Bellamy wasn’t around, or he was shooed off, so Bellamy could actually get his work done. He got a lot of great stories that way. Miller liked to talk a lot and Monroe had absolutely no problem telling Murphy about beat cops who took things a little too far when arresting suspects and due to one of the articles he’d written, the department had actually looked into a case and the cop was now on leave pending investigation, which Murphy assumed didn’t mean jack shit, but he was happy that the public knew about it, at least.

He hadn’t gotten a chance to meet any of the lab guys, yet, but Bellamy had mentioned that he might take him to see the tech guy today, if he wasn’t busy. He looked forward to it. Bellamy had told him a little bit about Monty, mainly the part about him helping to free Murphy and doing potentially illegal things to do so, which, to Murphy, meant a hell of a lot. Not many people were willing to put their careers on the line for him, especially without knowing him. He really wanted to meet this guy.

But, before that happened, he wanted to know about what Mbege had said to Bellamy. Bellamy’d had plenty of time to process it by now and Murphy was curious to know what had gone on, especially since Mbege had somewhat laid off about him dating Bellamy. Aside from the occasional snide comment and frown whenever Bellamy was brought up, he’d been chill. The lectures had stopped altogether, which Murphy was grateful for.

He nodded to himself, deciding that he’d given Bellamy enough time, and walked up to his desk, waiting to be noticed.

“You need something?” Bellamy asked, looking up at him. “Or do you just want to distract me?”

“Both,” Murphy grinned. “Tell me what Mbege said to you.”

Bellamy sighed and put his pen down, “You know, you’re lucky my intel hasn’t come in yet so I’m actually here instead of working my case.” He actually had to go meet up with his rat later that day, but that was beside the point. Until then, he guessed a distraction from his mountain of paperwork was alright. He’d promised Monroe he’d do her share if she stopped telling Murphy embarrassing stories about him, so he had twice the work, even though he didn’t fully trust her to keep up her end of the deal.

“Please, you’re the lucky one. My viewing fell through because somebody else got to it first, so I’ve got nothing to do today.”

“That explains why you’re here at,” Bellamy checked his watch, “nine AM. I’m surprised you’re not passed out right now, you look half dead.”

Murphy shrugged, “I’ve been staying up helping Craig with wedding stuff. I got a full four hours of sleep last night and three the night before.”

Bellamy stared at him for a moment before shaking his head, “That’s it. As soon as I’m off work you’re coming with me to my place. You can sleep there for a while, so Craig can’t keep you up.”

“I can’t just stay the night at your place. I promised I’d-”

“Help Craig,” Bellamy cut him off with a sigh. “Fine. You can nap for a couple hours, then we can eat, and afterwards-”

“We can have that talk about our relationship that we’ve been avoiding,” Murphy said. It was high time they discussed their kinks and limits. They’d toned it down since that Saturday, but with as often as he and Bellamy went at it, they needed to discuss it. There were things Murphy wanted that he needed to ask for and he needed to know what all Bellamy was willing to do. Plus, Bellamy had decided that until they had said talk, he was going to stick to the basics, so he didn’t push Murphy’s limits, and Murphy was more than a little tired of Bellamy playing nice.

“Fine,” Bellamy agreed. “Then, after that, I’ll take you home, so you can help Craig. But you have to promise me you’ll actually sleep tonight.”

“What are you? My father?” Murphy asked, hopping up on Bellamy’s desk. “I don’t need another one of those. My last one died, so I don’t think you want to fill that role. Bad luck and all that.”

Bellamy pursed his lips, “I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t. I’m fine. I slept less than this in college. I’ll be alright.”

“I don’t care. You’re going to be in bed by midnight.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll spank you,” Bellamy joked, poking at Murphy’s side.

“Sounds like a dad thing to me. Want me to start calling you ‘Daddy?’” Murphy snarked, trying to ignore the fact that Bellamy was actually caring about his wellbeing and that he had worried him. He was fine. He took care of himself. It was no big deal, Bellamy didn’t need to stress over his health.

“No. It’s not a dad thing, either. It’s a boyfriend thing, but if you keep pushing it, it’ll be a dom thing and I won’t fuck you until you’ve had eight hours of rest for at least two nights in a row. How’s that?” Bellamy asked, letting his hand rest on Murphy’s thigh, not high enough to get him in trouble if someone saw, but enough so that Murphy squirmed.

“Fine. I’ll sleep. I’ll just tell Craig to fuck off and crash. He’ll understand when the wedding’s over,” Murphy sighed.

“Good,” Bellamy said, pleased. Murphy had to take care of himself. Otherwise Bellamy was going to kidnap him from Mbege’s and take him home, so he could look after him. That would actually end Murphy’s apartment search and Bellamy would be able to keep him close. Two birds, one stone. But, they’d only been together for a month and a half, he wasn’t sure Murphy was ready for that step, so he wasn’t going to say anything.

Murphy shrugged, “Whatever. Don’t think you’ve distracted me, I still want to know what Mbege said to you.”

Bellamy sighed. He didn’t want to talk about it. Mbege hated his guts and the more he thought about it, the more he realized Mbege was likely to murder him the next time they were together. “He told me I destroyed your life and that I had no right to be in a relationship with you.” He was right.

“Did he really?”

“More or less. He said I should have tried harder to stop Kane and that this isn’t a romance movie and basically that I didn’t deserve a second chance.”

“That’s not true,” Murphy told him, shaking his head. “He’s just being an ass.”

“He’s right, though.” Bellamy didn’t deserve a second chance.

Murphy looked at him, a little bit of sadness in his eyes before shaking it off and shrugging, “Well, maybe not, but I gave you one anyway. And you’re doing much better this time around. Plus, I love you, so stop being a self-hating bastard and cheer the hell up. You’re so depressing.”

“You’re one to talk about self-hate,” Bellamy snorted. He’d noticed a lot about Murphy, and how he felt about himself was one of them. Bellamy thought he was amazing, but Murphy seemed to dislike himself a lot.

“I don’t know what you mean. I love myself. I’m fucking great,” Murphy lied, forcing himself to sound upbeat.

“Yeah, now try making it sound believable.”

“Fuck off,” Murphy huffed, crossing his arms.

Bellamy smiled at him for a moment before dropping his head to the desk. “Your brother wants to kill me.”

“He’ll come around.”

“He’s going to disembowel me with a shovel.”

“No, he’s not. Quit being dramatic.”

Bellamy just sighed and closed his eyes, not knowing what to say. Mbege hated him and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Honestly, Bell, I don’t know exactly what happened, but whatever you told him worked. He’s laid off considerably since you talked.”

“Really?” Bellamy asked, perking back up.

“Yeah, he hasn’t lectured me at all since then. I mean, he still doesn’t like you, but I think he’s accepted that I’m dating you.” He didn’t tell Bellamy that the freezer was now stocked with cherry ice cream and that there were three packages of different flavored goldfish crackers in the cabinet. It didn’t matter. Bellamy wasn’t going to fuck this up. Not this time.

“That’s good, I think.”

“It is,” Murphy nodded. “Now, weren’t you going to introduce me to the tech guy today? Monty, right?”

Bellamy nodded and stood up, glad for a change of conversation. “Right. As far as I know, he’s not too busy today, so we can go down there. Come on.”

Murphy followed after Bellamy as he led him downstairs into a dimly lit hallway with posters of smiling scientists on the walls. They’d been defaced, as mustaches and giant glasses were scribbled on one of them, the others bearing different styles, all done in bright purple sharpie. “Nice artwork.”

“Monty gets bored a lot,” Bellamy explained, grinning. He loved that little deviant. Between him and Jasper, there was never a dull day. Anytime Bellamy felt bad or disgusted with the world, all he had to do was duck down into the Batcave and those two would cheer him up. Just their presence alone was enough to brighten up the darkest of days.

“I like this guy already,” Murphy said as they came to a stop in front of a wooden door, the plaque reading ‘Tech Lab’ but the word ‘Batcave’ had been written over it in the same purple ink that adorned the posters.

“He’ll probably like you, too. He’s been bugging me about meeting you since I told him we were together again.” Which he’d only done two weeks ago when he’d gone out with Monty and Jasper for drinks after work. He still hadn’t told Clarke, but then again, he didn’t plan to.

Bellamy opened the door and walked through it into the blue lit room. “You changed the lightbulbs again?”

Monty smiled, popping up from behind the desk, a few wires in his hand. “Yes, I did. It looks better, and blue light is supposed to help you stay awake.”

“Uh-huh. When was the last time you slept?” Bellamy asked, glancing at the rather impressive tower of empty energy drink cans balance precariously on the desk.

“Well, I’ve been getting like, two-hour naps, but if you mean full night’s rest, then probably four days ago?” Monty said, plugging one of the wires into the back of the computer. “I’ve been reprogramming the system, so it runs better. Nobody had any casework for me, so I decided to do this, I just didn’t realize how long it would take. Now I’ve got to finish before Kane notices.”

“You think he hasn’t already noticed?”

“Well, I’m not currently a desk chair, so I’m assuming no,” Monty shrugged. Then, turning to Murphy, he smiled, “Welcome to the Batcave! Who the absolute hell are you?”

Murphy grinned back, “I’m Murphy. John Murphy. You’re Monty Green, right?”

“The one and only, much to the relief of the general populace. You’re the one dating Bellamy, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Well, first off, I’m so, so sorry. I know a great therapist if you need one, dealing with Captain Daddy Issues here can’t be much fun. And second, Bellamy told me you need stories and that you’ve got a thing against the mayor. How would you like a copy of his financial records?” Monty asked, plugging the rest of the wires in as he spoke.

“You can do that?” Murphy asked, eyes wide.

“Not only can I, but I already have. I needed them for a case. Harper was looking into his assistant for something, I don’t remember what, it was boring, but I got into their network and made a copy of all their records. I’ve got them saved just in case she needs them again, but I can email them to you, if you’d like?”

Murphy was shocked. He didn’t even know this guy and he was offering him the mayor’s financial records? “Why would you give them to me?”

“Early wedding present?” Monty joked. “No. Really, I’m going to give them to you for two reasons. The first is because you have made Bellamy so much more tolerable, no offense, Bell.”

“You say no offense, but you don’t really mean it, do you?” Bellamy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I don’t.”

Bellamy snorted and shook his head.

“Anyway,” Monty continued, “The second is to say I’m sorry. I didn’t believe Bellamy when he said you were innocent. I told him to drop it. I shouldn’t have.”

“But you still helped him get me out, didn’t you?” Murphy asked. Bellamy had said he did.

“Well, yeah, but I judged you without knowing you. I shouldn’t have,” Monty apologized.

“It’s fine. You helped save my ass. Honestly, I owe you.”

“Write a story about how the mayor’s embezzling funds from his own charity and we’ll call it even,” Monty told him, coming around to the front of the desk. He sat down in the chair and took a sip from a can. “Get him impeached. Or at the very least, keep him from being re-elected. He’s destroying our schools.”

Murphy nodded, “Yeah, sure. He’s really doing that?”

“Yeah. The proof is in the records. I guess that was why they were hidden behind three fucking firewalls. Whoever designed his security system is a genius. I mean, not as smart as I am, but smart enough to give me a nice little challenge. Took a full afternoon to get past them.”

“Monty,” Bellamy began, pinching the bridge of his nose, “You’re not redesigning the system because you want to, are you?”

Monty chuckled nervously, “Well, you see, the records kinda came with a virus attached. Meant to wipe out someone’s hard drive if they managed to steal them. I mean, it’s no big deal, I had everything backed up, but it fried one of my hard drives. Luckily, I downloaded the records to a flashdrive before it could eat them. I ran my own virus software on the drive and cleaned it out before opening them. All I had to do was replace the hard drive and restore everything, but there’s so much information that it’s taken me four days to do it. Well, do that and code a new software that would keep something like that from happening again. I should have just opened the records in the goddamn sandbox.”

“Sandbox?” Bellamy asked before shaking his head. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know. So, Kane doesn’t know?”

“Nope. Kane knows nothing and will continue to know nothing. And if he finds out, I know exactly who I’m turning into a pair of shoes,” Monty threatened.

“I’m not going to tell, don’t worry,” Bellamy assured him. He wanted no part of this. If Kane found out, it wouldn’t be from him. He liked being alive and if Kane found out, he’d probably throw a fit. Or a stapler. And Bellamy didn’t want to be in the line of fire.

“So, Murphy, you want the records?”

“Hell, yeah!” Murphy nodded.

“Give me your email,” Monty instructed, turning to the computer.

Murphy did and watched as Monty typed away at the keyboard.

“There. They’re in your inbox, waiting to be used. I’m giving them to you, so you can write an article, but first thing tomorrow morning, I’m sending them to Wells so Bryan can get a warrant. So, don’t publish your article until around eight thirty tomorrow morning. Just so they can’t say you obtained illegal information, you know? Don’t want you getting blamed.”

Murphy nodded, “Thanks. Like, I’ve been trying to get proof he’s corrupt for the past three years. I don’t know how to thank you, honestly.”

“Write an article. Buy me a drink. Marry Bellamy,” Monty shrugged. “That being said, if you ever need anything you can’t get, well, legally, I’m your man. Seriously, I’m so bored most of the time. I need something fun to do.”

“I did not just hear you offer to do illegal things for my boyfriend,” Bellamy said, crossing his arms. “You’re a fucking cop, Monty.”

“I’m a technical analyst. I don’t play by your rules,” Monty grinned, leaning back in his chair. “Besides, I’m not a real cop until they let me carry a gun.”

“You don’t need a gun, you have a keyboard. I’ve seen what you can do. You can do more damage with that thing than I could with an assault rifle,” Bellamy shook his head. “You’re not getting a gun.”

“Then I’m not a cop and I don’t have to follow your rules.”

“They’re Kane’s rules.”

“Since when have I ever listened to Kane?” Monty rolled his eyes, “Besides, you brought me in. You’re responsible for me.”

“Don’t remind me,” Bellamy groaned.

“Whatever. Get out of my cave, I’ve got a nap to take,” Monty ordered, standing up and stretching. “I’m meeting Bryan and Miller tonight for date night and I need sleep.”

“You’re allowed to sleep on the job?” Murphy asked, curious.

“Please, bitch,” Monty yawned, dropping down onto the couch. “Today’s my day off. I never fucking leave. I live here now.” He groaned and pressed his face into the cushion, mumbling, “I love this couch.”

Murphy laughed and followed Bellamy out the door.

“Come visit again!” Monty called as they walked out.

._-*-_.

“He should be here by now,” Bellamy grumbled, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. He hated this neighborhood. It was nothing but drug deals and drive bys. He understood why gangs were created, he knew the cops had failed most of these neighborhoods and the people in them, and they continued to fail them, but still. But, even then, it wasn’t really that. It was more personal. He hated neighborhoods like this because the dilapidated houses reminded him a little too much of the one he grew up in. It brought back some unpleasant memories.

Home should have been a place he felt comforted and safe, not a place where he had to be an adult at the age of six. He should have been allowed to grow up and play games with the other kids, not look after his sister because his mom was always at work.

It wasn’t that he resented his mother, nor Octavia, it was his father that he had the problem with. His and Octavia’s both, though mostly his. Octavia’s father had never meant to stick around. He’d never intended to be with his mother except for the night, and though his mother had tried her best to keep it a secret, he knew why he’d been there at all. There had been bills to pay and she’d done her best but working at a diner and sewing rich people’s clothes just didn’t bring in enough. He _hated_ Octavia’s father, but not as much as he hated his own.

He’d just left them. He hadn’t wanted to hurt his mother and in doing so had condemned them to a life of choosing between paying the electricity or water bills. If he had just stayed, things would have been different. His mother wouldn’t have been so sad. He wouldn’t have had to get a job at fourteen and balance that and school and taking care of his sister. If he had just stayed, then Bellamy wouldn’t have had to spend his entire life wondering why he wasn’t good enough. Why he hadn’t been enough to make him want to stay.

Bellamy sighed and looked over at Monroe, who was reading a novel. Something political, no doubt. He wondered if she ever read for fun. “Think he’s gonna show?”

“Of course, he will,” she said, flipping the page. “You’ve got his balls in a vice grip. If he doesn’t show, you turn him in for that possession charge and he gets at least two years, but that’s only with a plea deal and we both know he’s too stupid to take one.”

“But he’s not here,” Bellamy whined.

“Stop being a bitch. He’s only two minutes late. Just because you’ve got a clock stuck up your ass doesn’t mean everyone else does.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means, Blake. You’re so anal about punctuation that you probably schedule your goddamn bathroom breaks. Just, chill the hell down and give him a minute. He’ll be here.”

“I don’t schedule my- You know what? Fuck you.”

“Oh? Fuck you? Did you spontaneously grow a pair while I was getting coffee?” she laughed.

“Don’t be such a bitch,” Bellamy huffed. “I just think that people should show up when they say they’re going to. Otherwise what’s the point of being there? Waiting is annoying. Do you know how many other things I could be doing right now?”

“Is one of those things named Murphy?”

Bellamy rolled his eyes at her, “Don’t be jealous. Just cause Harper froze you out-”

“She didn’t freeze me out, Blake. She’s busy working a case with Miller. She’s dead tired when she comes home, and I respect her enough to let her sleep. It’s called love, asshole,” Monroe snapped.

“Somebody’s touchy. You know what you need? You need to get laid.”

“And you need to shut the hell up before I cram my book down your throat.”

“Imagine the papercuts,” he mused, grinning.

“You deserve them,” she huffed.

“Probably,” he shrugged. “But if you do that, I’ll choke, and you’ll have to find another partner. Do you really want to do that?”

“Might be worth it.”

“Uh-huh. And how many partners did you go through before me? Eight? Nine?”

“Seven, thank you. And it wasn’t my fault.”

“No, there was something wrong with seven other people. I’m sure you, the only constant, were not the problem. You should team up with Taylor Swift to write an album about your victimhood.”

“Fuck off,” she growled, smacking him with her book. “You’re just as bad. How many did you go through before Adam, huh? I’m pretty sure you set the goddamn record for losing a partner. Three fucking days, Blake, he put up with you for three fucking days before requesting a new partner.”

“Hey! Don’t attack me because you know I’m right! And I was the one who requested new partners.”

“Oh, yeah? Why?”

“Because they were fucking stupid.”

“Or because they wouldn’t follow your orders.”

“I wouldn’t have had to give them orders if they’d been competent. Do I order you around?”

“No, because you know I’d kick your ass.”

“Or because you’re smart enough to realize that running into a house full of armed drug dealers isn’t smart.”

“Okay, but how many times have you done something like that?”

“He left his weapon in the car!” Bellamy shouted. “He could have died! Do you know how much paperwork I would have had to do if I hadn’t stopped him?”

“Stopped him? You threatened to shoot him if he took another step!”

“And I would have!”

“Because you’re a jackass!”

“Well, you’re a bitch!”

“I never said I wasn’t!”

Bellamy snorted and shook his head, laughing, “Well, then I guess we’re evenly matched.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been your partner for two years, I kind of have to be a bitch to deal with you,” she chuckled.

Bellamy rolled his eyes, “You’re probably right.”

“I know I’m right. I’m always right.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Monroe was about to say something else when there was a knock on the window. They both turned to look, and Monroe grinned, “See? I told you he’d show.”

Bellamy rolled down the window, the smile disappearing from his face, “You’re fucking late. Get your ass in the car.”

“Bossy, bossy,” the man said, sliding into the back. “You wanted information? It’s gonna cost you.”

“It’s not going to cost us shit if you wanna keep your ass out of jail,” Monroe snapped as Bellamy peeled out. “Now spill, or I’ll arrest you for whatever you’re carrying right now.”

“Fine, fine,” the man huffed. “Alright, so the meetup is tomorrow at five. Johnny will be there and so will Chaz.”

“Five?” In the middle of broad daylight?

“What, you expect it to go down at midnight near the docks? Bitch, this ain’t no crime drama. It’s at five in the parking lot of that old Walmart, down on fifty third.

Bellamy bit his tongue as Monroe took down the information. He pulled to a stop several blocks away, his tires screeching, “Thanks for all your help. Now get the fuck out of my car.”

“Somebody’s grouchy.”

“And the next time you’re late I’m gonna tell your buddies you’ve been spilling their secrets. Then you’ll be begging me to arrest you.”

Bellamy sped off, grinning as he heard the man shout, “Asshole!”

._-*-_.

Murphy flopped down onto the couch and ran a hand through his hair as he watched Bellamy dry his hands on a kitchen towel. He felt better, more awake and alert now that he’d had a nap and Bellamy had made enchiladas for dinner, which he guessed he’d done while Murphy was sleeping because by the time he woke up dinner was ready, and Bellamy was setting the table. He’d walked in and Bellamy had kissed him, soft and sweet and Murphy had melted into it.

Now, the dishes were done, and Murphy was ready to have the conversation he’d been putting off. It wasn’t Bellamy who’d been afraid of having it, but rather Murphy, himself. He didn’t want to scare Bellamy off or make him think he was weird. But, it was high time they got it over with, because Murphy had been dreaming about the way Bellamy’s hand felt around his neck and he wanted him to do it again. And again.

But, first, they had to talk things out.

“So, you don’t have a safe word? Just the stoplight system?” Bellamy asked, cutting to the chase as he took a seat on the couch next to Murphy.

Murphy shrugged, “All the words I came up with either sounded stupid to me or were too hard to remember. The stoplight system is just easier and more efficient. Would you rather a safe word?”

“I’m alright with whatever you want us to use.”

“Okay,” Murphy nodded. “What are your limits?”

“No public play, no bodily fluids, other than, you know-”

“Murphy snorted, “Yeah, I think I get it.”

“No gun play or closed fists. I’m not going to do anything that would permanently hurt you. Asphyxiation is as close as I’ll get to real danger. I won’t lose you just because of a kink.” That was one of Bellamy’s biggest fears, losing Murphy, and he wasn’t going to do anything to put him in serious danger. Obviously, there were risks with everything, but some of those risks were just too great.

Murphy nodded, “That sounds fair.” He was a little disappointed about the gun play, because Bellamy’s gun turned him on whenever he felt it pressed up against his hip whenever they made out while he was in uniform, but he could live without it.

“Your limits?”

“No electricity of any kind.”

“I’ll turn off the lights, then.”

“That’s not what I meant, jackass,” Murphy huffed, poking Bellamy’s thigh before continuing. “Bodily functions are out. No masks, no mummification. If you tie me up, you can’t leave me there for more than a couple hours because I have things to do and I can’t be strapped to a bed all day.”

“I would never leave you tied up without me being there,” Bellamy assured him. That was unsafe. If he was going to keep Murphy tied up, he’d stay with him.

“Thank you,” Murphy said. “No age play or pet shit. I’m a sub, but I’m an adult and I’m human. None of that shit, I’m not going to judge it- Alright, I’ll judge it a little bit, but I don’t want it.”

“You don’t have to worry, I’m not into any of that.”

“Are you into any of this at all?” That was what had Murphy worried. He wasn’t sure if Bellamy did this because he wanted to make Murphy happy or because he actually enjoyed it and he didn’t want to make Bellamy think he had to indulge him if he didn’t like it.

Bellamy nodded, “Yeah. I’ve always been into it since I had a girlfriend who liked it. Don’t worry, I get off on it just as much as you do.”

“Do you, though?”

“Murphy, I need you to understand exactly how much I like having you at my mercy. How much I love teasing you and making you beg and being in control. I love watching you squirm and that night, with my hand around your throat, knowing you couldn’t do anything but what I said, watching you, so desperate and needy, I’ve never came harder. I promise, I like it just as much as you do,” Bellamy told him. He loved ordering Murphy around and he couldn’t wait to do it more. To make him open himself up for him, to make him strip and kneel and fuck his mouth while he called him a whore. The thought was enough to send a wave of heat to his dick.

“Okay,” Murphy said, reassured. As long as Bellamy was enjoying it, too, that was all that mattered. “What about kinks? Things you like.”

“Cuffs, or ropes, anything to keep you pinned down and unable to fight back. Dirty talk, in case you hadn’t guessed that already,” Bellamy grinned.

“Oh, I’ve noticed.” And it was hot as hell. Nothing got Murphy hard like the filthy things that came out of Bellamy’s mouth. “I like it.”

“Good. I’m into impact play, too, and orgasm denial, pretty much all of the basics. I’m open to a lot of other stuff, too, I just haven’t tried it. But as long as it isn’t a hard limit, I’ll do anything you want me to.” Bellamy would never deny Murphy anything, within reason. “What about you?”

“Orgasm denial. I had a boyfriend, well, kind of a dom, I guess, who refused to let me come for a week despite fucking me regularly. It was torture, but I’ve never came so hard in my life as when he finally let me. I like being tied up, spanking, slapping, being ordered around, and if I ever disobey or act like a bitch about it and I don’t say the safe word, it’s because I want you to _make_ me do it.”

“I can do that,” Bellamy smirked. He could do a lot of things. The thought of what he could do to Murphy was enough to get him hard. He was already halfway there, and his pants were becoming a bit uncomfortable, but from the way Murphy kept fidgeting, he figured he was in the same boat.

“I like degradation, humiliation to a point, but don’t like, make me feel less than human. It’s one thing to call me a whore and talk about how desperate and needy I am, but it’s another to call me a fag and knock me around.”

“I would never.”

“Good. I like breath play, a lot, overstimulation and pain, and I’ve got kind of an oral fixation, ya know?”

Bellamy snorted, “Is that your way of saying you like to suck me off?”

“Yes. I quite enjoyed last night when you fucked my face. That was fun.”

“I’ll have to remember that. Anything else?”

“You’ll let me know if I go too far, right?”

“You won’t.”

“Murphy.”

“You won’t, okay? I know you won’t. You don’t have it in you to hurt me that badly.”

“But if I ever go too far-”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Promise?”

“I swear, Bell.”

“Good.” Bellamy was satisfied now, knowing that Murphy wouldn’t let him go too far. The last thing he wanted was to hurt him.

Murphy sighed, shifting his position and Bellamy noticed the bulge in his pants. If he was right, Murphy was rock hard and ready to go. “I think that about covers the basics. Anything else we can discuss as it comes up. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Good, because I’m horny as fuck and I really, really need you to touch me,” Murphy whined, his hand on his crotch.

Bellamy just smirked and stood up, stretching before dropping to his knees in front of Murphy. “Let me take care of you, then.”

 “Bell,” Murphy whimpered as Bellamy unzipped his jeans and pulled him out, stroking him a few times. “Are you just going to tease me?”

Bellamy considered it for a moment, he loved teasing Murphy and he’d love to draw this out as long as possible, but a glance at his watch told him it was already nine, so Murphy would be needing to go soon. “No, not this time. Just relax and let me make you feel good, okay?”

Murphy nodded, relieved. He did love the teasing, but he was so hard that he was sure if Bellamy tried teasing him, he’d just come before even getting to the good part.

Bellamy smiled up at him before looking back down and licking at the head of Murphy’s erection. Murphy hissed above him and Bellamy took that as a sign he was doing the right thing. He licked a stripe from the base of Murphy’s cock to the tip before taking him into his mouth and bobbing his head, taking him deeper each time until he was brushing the back of Bellamy’s throat. Bellamy thanked whatever god was in charge of sex that he didn’t have a gag reflex and pulled back, swirling his tongue around the head.

Murphy moaned and tangled a fist in Bellamy’s curls, letting his head drop back onto the couch. Bellamy started slow and slowly sped up his pace, Murphy keening above him and bucking his hips into Bellamy’s mouth. Bellamy hummed around him, his hand wandering to the front of his own pants. He unbuttoned them and pulled himself out, his cock already hard and leaking.

He stroked himself slowly as he pulled back on Murphy’s cock, running his tongue across the bundle of veins on the underside of it before lightly scraping his teeth across it, causing Murphy to buck his hips and let out a curse as his hand tightened in Bellamy’s hair. Bellamy did it again, Murphy whimpering above him, biting his lip and looking down at Bellamy who did his best to smirk up at him. Watching him like this, all hot and bothered, pleasure painted across his face was too much for Bellamy and he sped up the rhythm of his hand, moaning around Murphy.

A few more times of Bellamy bobbing his head had Murphy gasping and telling him he was close. Bellamy nodded and scraped his teeth along the underside of Murphy’s cock as he pulled back, Murphy jerking his hips and moaning. He took him down one last time before Murphy spilled into his mouth, moaning out Bellamy’s name. Bellamy swallowed and pulled back, working his own cock, Murphy watching him lustfully. It only took a few more strokes before Bellamy spilled into his hand with a low groan.

He looked at his hand and raised up, searching for a tissue when he felt Murphy’s hand on his wrist. Before he could say anything, he felt Murphy press his tongue against his palm, licking at it before taking his fingers into his mouth, sucking them clean as Bellamy watched, marveling at him. “Murphy, fuck.”

“I’d love to, but I gotta get home,” he said, regretfully. There was nothing he wanted more than to fuck Bellamy right now, to have him pin him down into the couch and fuck him until he was screaming, but he couldn’t. “I’m free this weekend, though.”

“Then, I guess I’ll have to wait.”

“It’s only two more days. Then you can take me to bed and tie me up and do whatever you want to me,” Murphy said, standing up. He tucked himself away and reached out for Bellamy, pulling him into a chaste kiss. “So, you’ve got plenty of time to decide what you’re going to do to me.”

Bellamy hummed and wrapped his arms around Murphy, “Anything I want?”

“Anything you want.”

That was a lot of power and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do about it, but they had a date on Friday, which was two days from now, so he had some time to figure out what he wanted to do.

“Okay, then. And next Friday, you can ask for anything.”

“Really?”

“Whatever the hell you want, baby. Now, come on, I gotta get you back before Craig disembowels me for keeping you too late,” Bellamy laughed.

“Ugh, since when do I have a fucking curfew?” Murphy groaned, grabbing his jacket and following Bellamy out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next chap will be up soon-ish, depending on when I stop writing the other, bc I've got so much insp for it right now, but I'm going to force myself to get the next chap of this done by next Wed at the latest, so, here's hoping I have the self discipline to do that. But considering I don't even have the discipline to get out of my pajamas until ten minutes before going somewhere, well, we'll see. Maybe I should get a life coach. (Funny, I actually have a friend who's trying to be my life coach and he's a fucking dick to me, so the only conclusions I can draw from this is that either a)I'm so fucked that I can make anybody want to strangle me and I deserve the rudeness I'm being given bc I was a dick first or b)all life coaches are dicks. I'm going to believe b, bc a hurts my ego.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is exactly 2 hours late. Sorry about that. I'd tell you what I've been up to that caused that, but honestly, you don't really want to know. However, it's given me a lot me inspiration for TAL, so, that's gonna be fun, plus it's helped me fact check some things. So, unless you actually want to know and ask me personally, I'm gonna keep it quiet, cause it's not a thing the whole world needs to know about me.
> 
> But, this chapter is finished. I would have had it up earlier today, but well, between my grandmother and my new eh, friends?, I had abt a three hour delay on my writing. But, it's done now, and because it's not technically 'start of the day' morning and still 'people should be sleeping now' night, I'm going to consider it not a complete failure. A slight failure. Like, I don't know, Donald Trump's toupee level failure. I mean, yeah, it sucks, it's outdated, it's a goddamn travesty, but at least it's held on with good glue, so props to the glue manufacturer. Now, if only you could sell him some chapstick, too.
> 
> So, life's been wild AF, but I'm getting it under control. Just, don't make an ad on a website you recently joined and post it to TWO online partners groups. You'll get an inbox full of really weird and sometimes disturbing messages. But, I mean, I found a couple of cool dudes that I can chill with, so it worked out. But, it did make writing really hard bc I don't know when to cut my losses and stop answering those messages. I still need to send some replies, tho. But, this first. Then sleep. Then maybe replies. But probs replies to comments on here first. Bc I need to do that. (I haven't forgotten! Ily all and will reply as soon as I can.)
> 
> So, without further rambling,
> 
> Enjoy!

“So, how’s the apartment search going?” Bellamy asked, taking a bite of ice cream.

Murphy just groaned and let his head fall back, staring up at the sky in defeat.

“That well, huh?” Bellamy laughed.

“I can’t find a single place. There’s so many vacant apartments, but they’re either too expensive or they require you to have a job first or I’d have to share with rats. It’s impossible,” Murphy sighed.

Bellamy was struck by the urge to ask him to live with him yet again. It would solve his housing problem so he could focus on his job. But, not yet. He didn’t want to rush Murphy. He’d wait until they’d been together a little longer. After all, Murphy was already at his place most of the time, anyway. And if not there, then he was at the station with him. Bellamy saw him daily, and he knew he would never get tired of it. He wanted to be around Murphy all the time. No one made him feel as relaxed or happy as he did. Being around him was like being high, except much better, and he was addicted to it.

He watched as Murphy licked at his ice cream cone, a few pink drips getting onto his fingers. Murphy brought them to his lips and cleaned them off, smirking when he noticed Bellamy watching.

“Don’t worry, after I finish this, I’ll start on you,” he promised.

Bellamy bit back a groan and licked his lips. He shook his head and took Murphy’s hand, pressing it to his lips before letting it hang between them, Murphy letting out a noise of contentment.

“So, how about the job search? Or are you going to get overdramatic about that one, too?” Bellamy joked.

“I’m not overdramatic. I’m exactly the right amount of dramatic. I’m offering up just as much drama as the situation deserves,” Murphy huffed. “But, it’s shit, too. Jaha said he’d help me out and talk to some of his friends at other papers, but I don’t have much faith. I mean, Alie ruined my name. She told everyone about what happened to me. She took what I had at my desk about the article and ran one that said I was the killer. After I’d been cleared! Then she printed a retraction on the very last page. Nobody cares about that, not when my face was plastered on the front page with the caption ‘Journalist Gone Rogue: Midnight Slasher Behind Bars.’ Nobody wants to forget something like that.”

Bellamy felt a wave of guilt but shoved it down. Murphy didn’t need him to keep apologizing. He’d already told him a couple weeks ago to stop. “It’ll work out, Murphy. You’ll get a job. You’re too amazing, too good at what you do for them to care about a retracted article for long. Once they realize how great you are, they’ll all be begging you to work for them. Why don’t you send them a link to your blog as a reference? It’s a pretty good example of what you can do.”

Murphy blushed and ducked his head, “You read my blog?”

“Most of it. It’s amazing. You’re a damn good journalist and they won’t let you pass by if they know about it,” Bellamy said, giving him a kiss on the side of his mouth. “You’ll get hired. I believe in you.”

“Thanks. Now, can we switch the topic? I don’t want to think about it anymore. I just want to enjoy my date with you,” Murphy told him, playfully bumping his shoulder and beginning to walk again.

“We can talk about anything you want, babe.”

It was Friday, which meant it was date night. Fridays had become their designated night, because it was the only night they could stay up as late as they wanted and just crash the whole next day. So far, Murphy hadn’t spent the night at Bellamy’s, not because he didn’t want to, but because Craig had him up and busy by ten the next morning and Murphy didn’t want to incur his wrath by not being there. But, tonight, Murphy could. Drew was taking Craig to a spa or something, Murphy wasn’t sure exactly, to relax and maybe calm him the fuck down, so he was going to be busy all day tomorrow. Murphy planned to take full advantage of that.

Every Friday they’d gone out on a date. At first it was a restaurant, then laser tag – which Murphy was still reeling from, because he hadn’t thought Bellamy would do something that fun, but also because he had gotten his ass handed to him, he’d never been beaten so spectacularly – and last Friday it had been an art museum where Bellamy had patiently listened to him rant about how the art world wasn’t about how good you were, but rather who you knew, and Murphy had rewarded him for his patience by sucking him off as soon as they got back to the car.

Tonight, Bellamy had decided to go simple. They had gotten ice cream at a twenty-four-hour sweet shop and now they were walking around downtown, looking at the shop displays that were still lit up and enjoying each other’s company. Honestly, it had just been an excuse to hold Murphy’s hand, it was just a bonus that they were in public so Bellamy could show the world that the guy beside him was _his_ , Murphy loved _him,_ and he was the luckiest man in the world for it.

He got to spend the whole evening watching the way Murphy’s eyes lit up in the streetlights and he couldn’t believe how much he loved him. Murphy made him want to write poetry, full on sonnets like the ones Murphy had quoted for him a while back. But he wouldn’t do him justice. He could write poetry if he tried, maybe, but no poem he wrote would even be good enough to do Murphy justice. There wasn’t a poem on Earth that could accurately describe how amazing he was and how much Bellamy loved him. But Murphy made him want to try.

Murphy could write amazing poetry, in Bellamy’s opinion. He had read some of his work. He’d brought a notebook down to the station a week ago and he’d let Bellamy snoop through it. The words were scribbled between facts and dates and potential theories for articles, but Bellamy had found them nonetheless and they’d made him fall in love with Murphy all over again. They’d been beautiful, detailed and delicate and yet brutal with how true they were. They’d made Bellamy’s chest ache for something he didn’t even know he was missing. But when Murphy noticed what he was reading, he’d simply scoffed and said they weren’t that good, just some half assed shit he’d thought of when he was bored. He said he wasn’t very good, not really, not compared to other poets, but Bellamy couldn’t get the words out of his head.

_They made castles of children,_

_Built castles of their bones,_

_Hollowed out their hearts,_

_And filled them with rage,_

_Rage and undying loyalty._

Bellamy had never read anything so brutal yet gently broken. The words made it seem like a harmless poem, but the message was there, and it was delivered so well that you wouldn’t even realize you heard it until it was in your head. And you knew it was the truth. How he could think himself any less than amazing, Bellamy didn’t know. When he’d told him that, Murphy had said he was full of shit and just trying to get laid.

Bellamy thought about what he’d write for Murphy. Something simple, maybe. Something with beautiful words to match his features, but ones that showed how wild and brutal he could be, something that Bellamy loved about him. He’d want it to show just how much he loved him. But, he hadn’t written poetry since he was in seventh grade. Sure, he’d won an award, but it had gotten him relentlessly teased, so he’d stopped rather than start fights with the kids at school. His mom didn’t need that kind of stress.

But, he knew he could write, he was just out of practice. Anything he wrote would probably sound like some emo teenager trying to get a girlfriend, but maybe if he thought about it enough, he might be able to come up with something.

He half listened to Murphy ramble on about animal shelters and puppy mills, more in his head than out. He was trying to come up with the right words. He put all of his effort into it, all the skill he had, which probably wasn’t a lot. Even so, he thought, running through his mind all the pretty words he’d ever heard that might describe Murphy, even a little.

Finally, he thought he had it.

It wasn’t that great, and it was too short to fully articulate anything, but it said how he felt about the man beside him. How he’d do just about anything for a second of his attention, for him to know he existed. He was so lucky, so impossibly lucky, that they’d met and Murphy had wanted him, too. If Bellamy could, he’d go back and fix everything that had happened, but he couldn’t, and he’d have to live with it, but Murphy forgave him. Knowing he had Murphy’s forgiveness made him feel a lot of things. He was happy knowing Murphy didn’t hate him for it, but he was also conflicted and a little bothered by it. He’d screwed up, he’d ruined Murphy’s life. Murphy should hate him. And the fact that he didn’t just made Bellamy hate himself a little more.

“Bell?”

“Hmm?” Bellamy jerked himself from his thoughts, looking over at Murphy. “Yeah, babe?”

“You’re too steps away from walking us right into traffic. You okay?”

“Sorry. I’m just a little distracted,” Bellamy admitted.

“With what?” Murphy asked, taking a bite of his ice cream. “And how’s it more important that global warming?”

“I thought you were on puppy mills?”

“Yeah, like three blocks ago. Have you been paying any attention?” Murphy gave him an annoyed look for a moment before it softened, “What’s on your mind, Bell? It’s not work, is it?”

“No, work is fine. I was just thinking about your poetry, actually.”

“That? You’re still thinking about that? I told you, it’s not that good, so you should forget about it. If you want, I can show you some much better than mine,” Murphy offered, taking a seat on a nearby bench.

Bellamy followed him, sitting down and taking a bite of his ice cream. Chocolate would always be his favorite, no matter what, and the fact that the shop made it themselves made it all the better. “I don’t want to forget it. I think it’s amazing. And I don’t believe anyone’s could be better than yours. Not to me.”

“Well, then you have the judgement of Napoleon,” Murphy joked, turning to face him. “But, really, is that what’s got you distracted?”

“I have much better judgement, thank you. I would never invade Russia in the winter. Maybe in the summer, if I had one of those laser swords from Halo and at least four countries backing me, also equipped with said swords, but even then, only maybe,” Bellamy laughed. “And yeah, pretty much. It kinda made me want to write something, myself.”

Murphy perked up, “Oh? Did you?”

“Yeah, but it’s not that great. I mean it, too. I haven’t written anything since seventh grade, besides my Mom’s eulogy, so I’m out of practice and it shows,” Bellamy told him.

“Well, I want to hear it anyway.”

“Fine, but don’t laugh, okay?”

“I swear I won’t.”

Bellamy nodded and took a deep breath,

_“His mouth was like war,_

_All aching prose and violent, bittersweet words,_

_And I would die to hear him make a bullet of my name.”_

“And who’s that about?” Murphy asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love it, but like, who’s it about?”

“You?” Bellamy said, ducking his head a little.

“Yeah?” Murphy smiled. He’d thought so, but he hadn’t wanted to assume.

“Yeah. Is it too bad?”

“It’s amazing. Come here,” Murphy instructed, taking Bellamy’s face in his hand and pulling him in for a kiss. It was slow and gentle but quickly turned heated when Bellamy nipped at his lips and shoved his tongue past Murphy’s lips, swirling it around Murphy’s and making him moan quietly.

Murphy pulled back, “Car?”

“Yeah, sure,” Bellamy agreed, thankful they had been on their way back and it was less than a block away.

Murphy damn near ran the half block, pulling Bellamy along behind him. As soon as they were inside, he leaned over the console and pulled Bellamy in for another kiss, tracing his lips with his tongue and taking control when Bellamy opened his mouth. Bellamy couldn’t deny it was hot when he did that. Especially because it usually meant he was at least a little desperate.

They didn’t stop until Murphy was almost in Bellamy’s lap, tugging on his hair and pressing kisses to his neck. Bellamy laughed a little bit, “You okay, Murphy?”

“Want you. Been wanting you for days. You wouldn’t just fuck me like I asked, you had to be busy, doing paperwork instead of me. You just turned me on and then left like an asshole. Need you, now,” was the reply he got before Murphy pulled him into another kiss, just as hungry as the first.

This time Murphy was the one to break the kiss, “I wanna go back to your place.”

“Then you’ve got to move so I can drive.”

Murphy whined but sat back in his seat.

Murphy waited impatiently the whole drive and the second they were through the door, he was attached to Bellamy again. Bellamy laughed into the kiss as he felt Murphy rut up against his thigh.

“Fuck, Bell,” Murphy breathed out when the kiss broke.

“Murphy.”

“Fuck me. Now.”

Bellamy didn’t think twice as he nodded, ordering, “Bedroom. Strip.”

Murphy let go of him and walked off, tossing his jacket on the couch as he went by. By the time he got to the bedroom, he’d already discarded his shirt and was working on his pants when Bellamy came in.

“Good boy. When you’ve got them off, get on the bed.”

Murphy nodded and rid himself of the rest of his clothes, aching to touch Bellamy again, but knowing not to disobey an order. He climbed onto the bed and kneeled, sitting down on his legs and waiting for Bellamy to tell him what to do next.

Bellamy took his clothes off slowly, aware of Murphy’s eyes on him. Once he was naked, he opened the drawer of the nightstand and tossed Murphy a bottle. “Open yourself up for me. Give me a show, baby.”

Murphy whined at the thought of Bellamy not touching him but opened the bottle, slicking up his fingers as he turned around so Bellamy could watch. He slowly slipped one in, moaning loudly at the feeling. He thrust it in a couple times before adding another, the slight burn making him go wild. He added a third quickly, wanting the pain that would come with it if he didn’t stretch himself properly first. He whimpered, his cock leaking against his stomach as he thrust his fingers into himself, not even bothering to find his prostate, the feeling of something inside of him enough.

Bellamy watched, slowly stroking himself. Once he was fully hard and he was sure Murphy was stretched enough, his loud moans going straight to Bellamy’s dick, he said, “That’s enough.”

Murphy removed his fingers, whimpering but knowing something better was coming soon. “Please, Bell, I can’t wait anymore.”

“Shut up,” Bellamy ordered.

Murphy closed his mouth and look back at him in question.

“You’re gonna be a good little whore and keep quiet. The louder you get, the harder I’m going to fuck you.”

Murphy swallowed hard. He was pretty damn loud. He was certain the neighbors knew Bellamy’s name by heart by now. He wasn’t sure how hard Bellamy would go, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep quiet. Not that he really minded, because there was nothing he liked more than Bellamy being rough with him.

He felt Bellamy get on the bed and he bent over, spreading himself for Bellamy who ran a finger over his hole and told him, “Such a pretty slut. My slut, aren’t you, baby? All mine.”

Murphy nodded and bit back a whine. He wanted Bellamy inside of him now, but he didn’t want to break the rules just yet. He wanted to at least try to follow them. If he did, Bellamy usually rewarded him.

Bellamy lined up and thrust into him in one motioned, Murphy letting out a loud keen. Bellamy smirked and gave him a second to adjust, knowing how much Murphy liked it when he did that. They’d discussed a lot of things and Murphy was very vocal about what he liked and Bellamy loved it, because he wanted nothing more than to please him. He wanted him happy in every way possible.

“Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?” Bellamy asked after a moment.

Murphy just whined, quieter this time, and nodded.

“Good boy,” Bellamy praised. He waited until Murphy was bucking his hips back to start moving.

He started slow, making sure Murphy was adjusted and ready before speeding up, setting a brutal pace as Murphy bit his lip, muffled moans escaping from him. Bellamy grabbed his hips, hard enough to bruise them, just like Murphy liked, thrusting deeper.

It didn’t take but a few seconds before Murphy’s control slipped and he let out a loud moan, “Bell! Fuck, Bell!”

Bellamy just smirked and started thrusting harder, Murphy gasping and grabbing the sheets, his hands turning to fists as he whined. Bellamy knew that the longer they went on and the closer Murphy got, the louder he’d become. Really, it wasn’t a fair game, but Bellamy was sure that when it was over, Murphy wouldn’t mind too much.

“God, fuck,” Murphy whimpered, “Bell, please!”

Bellamy sped up his pace again, gripping Murphy’s hips harder as he started to beg. “You like that? You like being treated like the whore you are?”

“Fuck, Bell, yes! Wanna be treated like your whore. God, please, Bell! I need- Fuck, will you- Oh, fuck. I can’t, Bell, I need you to touch me, please!” Murphy begged. He’d long since stopped trying to keep quiet, not caring anymore.

Bellamy fucked into him, listening to Murphy and speeding up whenever he got louder. He knew he’d be just as tired as Murphy after this, so it was a good thing Murphy had told him he could stay the night this time.

“You’re not being very quiet, are you?” Bellamy asked, thrusting as hard as he could, adjusting his thrusts so that he was hitting Murphy’s prostate each time, causing him to scream out. Murphy was moaning and begging underneath him and Bellamy had never seen anything hotter. “But you don’t wanna be quiet, do you? You want me to fuck you so hard you can’t walk in the morning, don’t you? You want me to use you and fuck you and treat you like a whore because you are one. You’re my little whore, aren’t you, baby?”

“Yes, Bell, yes! I need you to use me. Please, please, Bell, touch me. I need it so bad. Please, I’m so close I can’t stand it. Please, let me come, Bell. Please!” Murphy nearly screamed, so loud that Bellamy was sure the neighbors could hear him. He loved knowing he could do this to him, make him writhe and beg and plead to come.

“Okay, baby,” Bellamy said, taking a hold of Murphy’s cock and stroking him hard and fast as he pounded into him, showing no mercy. “Come for me, baby.”

Murphy screamed as he came, spilling over Bellamy’s fingers and shaking as his orgasm ripped through him, making him see stars.

Bellamy followed soon after, fucking Murphy through it until finally stopping and letting go of him.

Murphy fell to the side, panting. He looked completely fucked out and Bellamy loved it. He left to grab a washcloth but returned quickly, cleaning them both up and laying down next to Murphy and pulling him into a lazy kiss.

“You okay, baby?” he asked after a moment.

Murphy smiled and nodded, “Yeah. That was amazing. You should fuck me that hard more often. I’ve never came that hard, ever, I’m serious. You’re really fucking great at this, you know that, right? But, fuck, I’m tired. Can we go to sleep now?”

“I’m glad you’re happy,” Bellamy told him, grabbing for the sheets at the foot of the bed. He was glad he hadn’t had time to make it this morning, because he doubted he could get Murphy to move so he could turn it down. He covered them up and pulled Murphy close, pressing a kiss to his shoulder as he fell asleep in his arms. “Goodnight, baby.”

._-*-_.

The next morning, Bellamy woke up tangled up with Murphy, who had somehow managed to get their limbs so intertwined that Bellamy couldn’t tell where he began and Murphy ended. It was one of the greatest feelings he’d ever gotten, knowing that this time, nobody was going to come knocking on the door, this time everything was safe, and he could just be happy. So, this time around, he was going to do this properly, like he’d wanted to do since he’d gotten back together with Murphy, but, since Craig had Murphy’s balls in a vice grip and Bellamy didn’t want to piss him off, he didn’t get much of a chance to.

Bellamy smiled and pressed a soft kiss to Murphy’s lips, the man scrunching up his brow and mumbling something that sounded vaguely like ‘fuck off,’ before gently untangling himself from him and getting out of bed. He stretched and sighed, content with his life for the first time in a long time, then began the search for his boxers.

He found them in a pile with the rest of his clothes near the foot of the bed. He pulled them on and made his way to the kitchen to set about making breakfast. He knew Murphy didn’t like breakfast food after eleven, but it wasn’t eleven yet, they still had an hour, and hopefully Murphy would be up by then. If not, Bellamy would just surprise him in bed or something.

He was halfway through setting the table when Murphy came into the room, yawning and stretching and giving Bellamy a grin that said he was clearly pleased with whatever was on his mind. He was dressed in nothing but his boxers and Bellamy’s shirt, which looked like it was swallowing him and Bellamy wasn’t sure why he thought that was decent attire, because all it made Bellamy want to do was drop what he was doing and kiss him because it was just so cute, but instead, Bellamy said, “I’m surprised you can walk.”

“Barely,” Murphy admitted. There was an ache in his lower back and he felt it with every step, but he didn’t mind it all that much. He liked it when he could feel it this morning. He smiled as Bellamy turned around to grab forks and ran his fingers across the bruises on his hips. A reminder that he belonged to Bellamy that would last a good few days. “So, what’s this about?”

“Breakfast. Pancakes. Want some?” Bellamy offered, bringing both the forks and a stack of pancakes to the table.

“Sure? I mean, breakfast is a sin against humanity, but I’ll eat it,” he joked, taking a seat across from Bellamy. “Besides, your cooking makes up for it.”

“If you want something else-”

“I’m kidding. Sit. It’s fine, Bell. I like pancakes. I prefer waffles, but, of all the breakfast foods there are, there are only three I’ll go near. Pancakes, waffles, and French toast. So, as long as you don’t put ketchup on this, I’ll eat with you,” Murphy laughed.

“And if I do?” Bellamy teased, sitting down and reaching for the butter.

“Then I will never sleep with you again,” Murphy threatened.

“Uh-huh. You’ll last until those bruises fade and then you’ll be back begging for more.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. You gonna dispute it?”

“I can’t, but I resent it all the same.”

Bellamy just laughed and shook his head, picking up the syrup. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”

“And so are you. Literally.”

“Okay, but really, are you alright? Cause if it hurts too much, I’ve got Advil in the medicine cabinet.”

“I’m fine, Bell. It’ll mellow out in a little bit. I’m just a bit sore. I’ve had worse pain before, at least this one I enjoy,” Murphy said, honestly. Bellamy’s concern was sweet, but he didn’t want him to worry himself to the point of never doing it again. “Besides, it’s a constant reminder of just how good you are.”

Bellamy grinned, rolling his eyes, “Fine, but if it gets to be too much, let me know, okay?”

“Sure, Bell.”

They ate, exchanging playful banter until the pancakes were gone. It was comfortable and happy, and they were both content just to exist together for a while. Murphy thought it’d be nice to be able to do it every morning. To wake up to Bellamy and get to eat breakfast with him or kiss him before he went to work. It’d be a good life. He’d have nothing to complain about. But, Bellamy would probably get tired of him long before that was a possibility.

Murphy sent a text to Mbege when he was finished, letting him know where he was and why he hadn’t come home last night. It took about a minute before he got a reply.

_At least you didn't get arrested this time._

**Begs.**

_You gonna be home today?_

Murphy thought for a second before asking, “Hey, Bell, you want me to go home after this or…?”

“I have no plans. It’s up to you. You can stay all day if you like,” Bellamy replied, cleaning up the table and taking the plate to the sink.

“Do you want me to?” Murphy asked, standing up and taking the butter and syrup back to the kitchen. He’d been in Bellamy’s kitchen enough times to know where they went. “Or do you want a break from me? Since I hang around so much?”

Bellamy finished rinsing off the plates and putting them in the dishwasher before turning around to grin at Murphy, “Of course, I do. And I could never want a break from you, Murph. You’re like, my favorite person in the world, you know that, right?”

“No, I didn’t, actually,” Murphy said, returning the grin. “I’ll stay, then?”

“Please do. We can watch movies on the couch. And if you feel up for it later, I can take your mind off the pain.”

“By giving me more pain?” Murphy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“There are many things I can do to you that don’t involve me putting my dick in your ass. You realize this, right?”

“You’ve given me many examples, yes. I suppose I wouldn’t object to it. If you write me more poetry,” Murphy bargained, leaving the kitchen to sit on the couch.

“Oh, no. No, that’s not happening. It was a once in a lifetime thing. I’m not embarrassing myself like that again. Not a chance,” Bellamy shook his head, following after while drying his hands on his shirt. “As much as I love you, I don’t think that’s a way I can show it.”

“But it was good! I liked it. Made me feel special.”

“You are special. But I don’t need to give you more ammunition to fuel your love of mocking me. Monroe has given you plenty.”

“You mean like the pictures of that time you dyed your hair blonde?” Murphy teased, pulling out his phone and sending a text to Mbege to let him know he was staying.

“You have pictures?” Bellamy almost squeaked. “Clarke swore they were all deleted.”

“I don’t know who Clarke is, but she lied to you. I’ve got three saved on my phone. And don’t even think about deleting them, you don’t know my passcode and I’ve emailed them to myself so they’re on my computer. And even if you can delete them, I’ll just get them from Monty. He’s got them saved to his laptop and even you couldn’t delete those.”

“That’s cruel. You’re cruel. Why are you this mean?”

“Because I can be. And it’s funny. And I’m an asshole, so it comes with the territory,” Murphy smirked.

“Don’t be a dick, babe. It’s rude.”

“I know it’s rude. I just don’t care,” Murphy shrugged.

“You should get dressed,” Bellamy told him, amused.

“Are we going somewhere?”

“Not right now.”

“And you’re just going to take my clothes off later?”

“If you let me.”

“So, why get dressed?” Murphy reasoned.

“Because that’s what people do in the morning.”

“But I don’t want to,” Murphy whined.

Bellamy rolled his eyes, “And why not?” Whatever the excuse was, it was bound to be amusing.

“I don’t know.”

“Murphy.”

“It’s stupid.”

“Tell me, babe, and I’ll think about not dragging you to the bedroom and dressing you myself,” Bellamy said, curious.

“You know, usually when one gets dragged to the bedroom, clothes are taken off, not put on,” Murphy mused.

“Aren’t you the one who wants to defy all social norms?”

“I kinda like that one.”

“Murphy, just tell me. I’m not gonna think it’s stupid.” Unless it was stupid, in which case he would just drag Murphy to the bedroom, anyway.

“I don’t-” Murphy sighed, frustrated with himself. “I like being in your shirt, okay? Makes me feel safe.”

Oh. Okay. That wasn’t stupid at all. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Murphy muttered quietly. “And loved. And all that gross shit.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay, you don’t have to get dressed. But at least put some pants on,” Bellamy told him, walking off to the bedroom to put his own clothes on. He opened his closet and began to look through his clothes, unsure what to wear.

“Not another goddamn button down,” Murphy told him from the doorway. “It’s fucking Saturday, act like it.”

“I look nice in button downs.”

“Who’re you trying to impress? Cause it isn’t me. I’m already fucking you, right? And seeing you in a t-shirt and jeans isn’t going to make me love you any less.”

Bellamy sighed and grabbed for a pair of faded jeans he hadn’t worn in months before pulling a dark green t-shirt out of one of the drawers of his dresser. “Fine, if it’ll make you happy.”

“It will. And it’ll make you comfortable. The most relaxed I’ve seen you is when you’ve got your shirt untucked and your tie off. It’s concerning, really. I mean, I’ve been over here almost every weekend for the past month and you always look like you’re ready to give a sermon. Let yourself relax, babe, you need to let go of all that stress you’ve got built up.”

“And jeans will help me do that?”

“Jeans and a blowjob might.”

“Well, if you’re offering,” Bellamy laughed. He got dressed while Murphy did the same, keeping Bellamy’s shirt on, before they headed back.

Murphy immediately flopped on the couch when he got in the living room, making Bellamy chuckle. He loved how at home Murphy was in his house. He was glad he was comfortable around him now, as opposed to how he was when he first met him, always fidgeting with the radio and rambling to keep the silence from getting to him.

Bellamy looked around, wondering what movie they should watch first when he noticed Murphy’s jacket thrown across the seat of one of the arm chairs. He went to grab it, so he could hang it up and furrowed his brow, looking at the sticking on one of the sleeves, “Murphy, your jacket’s tearing up.”

“I know. Leave it alone, don’t make it worse,” Murphy snapped when Bellamy went to examine it closer.

“Why not get a new one? This one’s been dead for a while. Plus, it’s missing like, eight studs.”

“Well, first off, I put the studs on myself, so you can blame the fact that they’re falling off on my inability to use an iron, and second, it’s important to me. I can’t just buy a new one, okay? It’s not about how torn up it is, it means something, so just put it down and leave it alone before it gets any worse.”

“Means what?” Bellamy asked, curious.

“It was a gift from Arthur, Mbege’s dad, when I was fifteen. He gave it to me for my birthday. That was also the year they told me they could officially adopt me, if I wanted.”

“You didn’t want them to?” Bellamy remembered Mbege telling him something about that, he didn’t remember the details, if there had been any, but he knew Mbege had said something about Murphy not wanting them to adopt him.

“No, I did, I just also-” Murphy cut off and sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t want to lose what I had left of my dad. All I had was his name and the fact that he was still my legal father. I couldn’t let go of that. As much as I loved Arthur, and as much as I still love Mbege, I just can’t. I know it broke their hearts when I said no, and I had no idea how to explain it, but they accepted it. I just can’t let go of my dad.

“He wasn’t like my mom. He loved me, he never hated me, never hit me, he was a great father, raised me well, with manners and ‘yes, sir’s and taught me to open doors for little old ladies. All of that shit. He was the best dad you could ask for. And I can’t just let go of him. I need to hang on to what I have. Mom sold off all of his things to buy liquor, so it’s not like I had any physical thing to hold onto. She even sold off his medal and the flag we got when he died, too. So, I can’t let go of what I have. Just like I can’t let go of the jacket. Because even though I have the compass Arthur gave me – both Mbege and I have matching ones, the only thing different is the inscription, mine says ‘To my son; may you always find your way back home, where you are loved,’ and Mbege’s says ‘To my son; so that you may you never get lost when the world calls you to wander’ – we got them six months before he died, which was a year after I got out of juvie, Mbege and I had just turned nineteen, cause we’re only two months apart, he’s older, technically, and he never lets me forget it.

“Anyway, I’ve got the watch and I’ve got the jacket, and they both mean a lot to me, but the jacket was what he gave me when he told me he wanted me to be an official part of his family. Nobody had wanted me since my dad died. Nobody had cared before I met them, and knowing that they loved me that much, it meant _everything._ So, it’s not just a jacket. It’s got a lot attached to it, and every time I wear it, I feel like I belong somewhere, like I’ve got a home I can run to when things get bad. And I do. I’ve still got Mbege and the house we lived in. Technically, Arthur put it in both of our names before he passed, but I took my name off the deed a few years back, when I got my apartment. Mbege didn’t want me to, but I told him that it was his house and he shouldn’t have to get my signature whenever he wanted to do something with it. I love Arthur, but I don’t want to live there forever. I want my own place, my own life. It sounds horrible to say it like that, but I don’t mean for it to. I just don’t know how else to explain it.”

“I get it,” Bellamy nodded. “It makes sense and I don’t think it’s horrible.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You love them, that won’t change, but you need a place to call home that you made. You’ve been living in borrowed houses with people who don’t want you to belong to them, and yeah, the Mbeges were different, but you need your own life, a place you created, something you can say you made.”

“Yeah, exactly. So, unless I live with someone I love and want to marry, then I’m going to find my own place, you know?”

Bellamy knew. He knew that it was very unlikely Murphy would want to live with him. He’d still offer one day, but he doubted he’d accept. “I know. You said your dad had a medal? Was he a soldier?”

“Yeah. Beirut, Lebanon. ’82. Reagan was a bastard.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Got sent home with two bullets in his chest that couldn’t be removed. Got a purple heart and a warning from the doctor that he could die if he so much as sneezed wrong. He didn’t care, didn’t take it easy. He wanted to live life to the fullest, because it was too short to spend it worrying about the end. Always thought he’d die from that, not because he tried to stop some armed robber on his way back from getting medicine when I had the flu. Turns out, you can’t cure the flu, so the medicine wouldn’t have helped, anyway. I was pretty bad, too, doctor wasn’t sure I’d make it. But, well, I lived, he didn’t. That’s the way the world works. It’s all great until somebody sticks a gun to the back of an old lady’s head and the former marine with a hero complex just has to get in the middle of it. I mean, he saved the lady, but he bled out before the ambulance got there. Nobody else got hurt and the cops caught the guy less than an hour later trying to rob another shop. Fucker couldn’t learn his goddamn lesson,” Murphy spat. “Mom sold the medal and flag to a pawn shop. She spent the next three years blaming me for his death. I mean, she wasn’t wrong.”

“Yes, she was,” Bellamy told him, though he had a feeling it wouldn’t matter what he said, Murphy was still going to believe it. She’d probably said it enough times that he thought it was true. “The robber killed him. That’s on him, not you.”

“Yeah, well,” Murphy shrugged. Then, “So, can you leave my jacket alone, please?”

“It needs to be fixed.”

“Yeah, well, I can't sew, so-”

“I can.”

Murphy’s eyebrows shot up, “Yeah? Why?”

“My mom was a seamstress. I used to help her after school.” When Octavia went to play with friends, once she was old enough that he didn’t have to watch her constantly. His mom had been glad for the help and Bellamy had never forgotten the skill. “I could probably fix it, if you want.”

“You won’t make it worse?”

“It can’t get much worse.”

“I don’t know-”

“I won’t make it worse, I swear. I’ve helped fix things far worse off than this. It’s not that hard,” Bellamy promised.

Murphy bit his lip for a moment before finally sighing and nodding, “Alright, sure. I trust you.”

Bellamy smiled and set the jacket down, running to his study to grab the sewing kit he kept on his bookshelf. It came in handy from time to time.

He returned quickly and took the jacket and sat down on the couch next to Murphy, opening up the kit and pulling out the thickest thread he had and a needle. He got everything in order and began to re-stitch the sleeve, not stopping until he’d stitched the whole thing, not just where it was tearing. “That way it won’t keep tearing up, since I don’t want to pull the stitching all the way out and I don’t want to just leave it like that, cause there’ll be another hole soon.”

Murphy watched in fascination as Bellamy stitched up the rest of the holes and applied some fabric glue to the small tears in the leather, sealing them shut. It took him about an hour to get it back into decent condition, but when he was done he smiled and handed it to Murphy, “There. All fixed. If anything else tears, let me know and I’ll fix that, too.”

“Thanks,” Murphy said quietly, “That’s amazing.”

“It's just a few stitches, it's not that big of a deal,” Bellamy shrugged.

“It's awesome.”

“It's just- Honestly, it's nothing.”

“She taught you?” Murphy couldn’t really remember what it was like to have a decent mother, years of abuse had ruined his memories of her, but he imagined it would be nice.

Bellamy nodded, “Yeah. I used to think it was cool when I was in grade school, but then I grew up and I realized that it wasn't considered cool, it was considered low class. I haven't had much need for it recently, though.”

“I think it's cool.”

“Yeah?” Bellamy smiled, feeling a little proud. No one had thought it was cool except him and Octavia, but the kids at school had taunted them both about it, so they’d learned not to advertise it.

“Yeah. My mom never sewed. I don't think she knew how.”

“It's how my mom paid our bills, most of the time. She'd be up until four in the morning sewing things together. Clothes, curtains, blankets, anything that needed fixing,” Bellamy told him.

“Well, it’s amazing and you should be proud of yourself. Thank you, really, that jacket means more to me than anything, and the fact that it was tearing up sucked, cause I don’t know what’d I’d do without it. I’ve worn it almost everyday since I got it and just, thank you, Bell,” Murphy said, pressing a sweet kiss to Bellamy’s lips. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Murphy. More than anything.”

They spent the rest of the day together, either curled up on the couch watching movies or in Bellamy’s bed. It was all Murphy could ask for, to be held in Bellamy’s arms. He felt safe and loved and he knew he’d never willingly leave him. If he got the chance, and he really hoped he did one day, he’d marry Bellamy. He wouldn’t hesitate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is loved. And I have no earthly idea when I'm going to get my tumblr done. It's on the back burner for right now. I've got other things to do before I can even think about adding another social media site to my plethora of distractions. Sorry if any of you were waiting on it. It will get done. But, in the meantime, if you really want to contact me, just like, lmk in the comments and I'll give you my Skype/kik/email/summoning ritual instructions/whatever so you can.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is over a week late, but allow me to explain: I have discovered the joy of sleep. I've been asleep most of the week, actually, and when I haven't been, I've been hiding from people online bc they stressed me out and I couldn't handle it. But, I'm no longer talking to that specific person and I'm slowly getting around to replying to messages/comments/emails/all forms of contact, so that means I will get to comments sometime before I post the next chapter. I may never get my FL inbox cleared, tho. There are 19 messages. I don't want to talk to 19 people in one day. Esp not if they're going to reply again within three hours. So, I'm dying. I'm not social. I'm only good with people when I'm being diplomatic, otherwise, I suck at all things social and this is _too fucking much_ so I'm dying. 
> 
> Also, my To Do List is over 20 items long. I've accomplished like, 5 of them. I'm failing at everything. But, I should be moving into a new apartment soon, or at the very least renting it for a month before moving in, so that's a good thing. I've got to call tomorrow, but I'm hoping to have it all taken care of by the end of next week.
> 
> But, as for this chapter: It's done. It's long-ish. There's no smut, but there will be next chapter, bc I suck at not adding things. This story is already 114 pages on word. It's long af. I'm proud of myself. Esp bc this is only chap 6. There's still 15 left to go. I pln to have the next chap up by next Wed, but we're going to make that a soft deadline until I clear up my to do list and answer those messages. They're stressing me out, so I need to reply to them. The sooner the better, so I'm going to try for tomorrow. Also, bc I haven't said it yet, I've been waiting to post chapters until I've got one written for both TAL and IU, so that I don't end up writing 3 of one and neglecting the other. I may stop doing this, bc I feel it's causing me to be rly late to update on the one I wrote quicker. In this case, I wrote TAL's chap 4 days ago. I'm posting after this one. So, I think I'll stop, so if you see me updating one more than the other, feel free to shout at me abt which one you want written first. That's fine.
> 
> And now, bc I have to ramble so long that this note could be a story itself, I'm thinking of writing some Wellphy stuff, some shippy, some not so shippy, bc I love those two fucks and want them to be happy, preferably together. Is there any interest for this? I'm still gonna write it no matter what, but like, does like them as friends/lovers/mutual human sacrifices to the angst gods?
> 
> And that's what you missed on Glee.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Okay, so, 1000 or 1200?”

“1000? What’s 1000?”

“Watts.”

“Yeah, I said what’s 1000 for?”

“It’s 1000 watts.”

“That’s what I’m asking!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake! It’s 1000 watts as in wattage, Murphy, stop it. It’s a microwave. You’re being a dumbass.”

“But I’m an adorable dumbass,” Murphy said with what he thought was a cute smile but really just looked like he had shoved a beach ball up his ass and it had finally deflated.

He started to lean against the front of the basket, but the second he shifted most of his weight onto it, it rolled away from him and left him flailing as he crashed to the floor, the basket rolling back at an angle and bumping into the display of cooking utensils, economically priced at ten dollars each, sending a couple of the buckets crashing to the floor, the noise drawing the attention of some nearby customers who craned their necks to see what had happened.

“But a dumbass nonetheless,” Mbege sighed and shook his head, turning back to the row of display microwaves in front of him.

Murphy just grinned and picked himself up from the ground, dusting off his jacket. He made his way over to the basket and pulled it away from the display before it could cause more damage. He waved to the customers who were staring at him and gave a little bow, snorting to himself when they turned their noses and walked on. Stupid dickholes always had to be judgey. It wasn’t like he’d done it on purpose.

He bent over to pick up the fallen spatulas and replace them in their bucket before setting it on the display again. It didn’t take more than a couple moments to clean up his mess, but when he stood, he was greeted by a rather surprised employee who looked him over and muttered out a quiet but grateful, “Thanks.”

“Well, I caused it. I’d be a dick to just walk off.”

“You would, but you’d also be part of the majority.”

“Well, the majority sucks ass.”

The employee, who’s nametag read ‘Justin,’ smiled and nodded, “Yeah, well, I could lose my job if I ever said that out loud.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I’m the one who said it, then,” Murphy laughed. He pointed to the display, “Do people really pay ten bucks for a fucking pasta fork?”

“Ah, but these aren’t just _any_ pasta forks. They’re pastel and pretty and they’re from a line of kitchen supplies branded by some reality TV woman who can apparently cook or some shit, so by buying them, you, too, can make pasta the authentic way!” Justin told him, shaking his hands dramatically.

“With a jar of premade sauce and undercooked noodles?” Murphy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“And they wonder why their kids hate them. It’s a sad life, really. The one of Suzie-Homemaker who wanted to be an actress but failed in Hollywood when they realized she couldn’t, ya know, _act,_ so she gave up and latched on the nearest middle-aged rich guy she could find because she never learned to do anything for herself.”

“Well, I mean, society probably played a role in that by telling her she was only worth her looks and never encouraging her to do anything worthwhile because ‘the boys won’t like you if you do that.’ I mean, it’s unfair.”

“Sure, I guess, but it’s not so much that, as the fact that they’ve convinced themselves that if they spend more money, they’ll be happier, instead of just going to night school with their husband’s money and then divorcing him once they’ve graduated. And it’s a little funny to watch them fawn over absurdly priced cookware like it’s gonna make a difference in how their frozen lasagna tastes. Just because it’s pastel green doesn’t mean the food’s gonna taste any different than it would if you bought a two-dollar white one.”

“Money does not a good lasagna make. But, I wouldn’t really know. I’m not allowed to touch the stove anymore,” Murphy admitted, sheepishly.

“What’d you burn?” Justin asked.

“Uh, water?” Murphy grimaced. “And myself. On multiple occasions.”

“Nice,” Justin laughed. “So, I’m guessing you’re here for a microwave, then?”

“Yeah. My friend Craig killed our last one.”

“Well, in that case-”

“Murphy! Get your ass back here!” Mbege called, looking annoyed.

“Boyfriend?” Justin asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“No, my brother,” Murphy sighed. “I need to get back to him before he decides to shove a meat fork up my ass.”

“Sexy. Hey, uh, since you don’t have a boyfriend, do you mind if I give you my number?” Justin asked, hopefully.

“Oh. Actually, I do have a boyfriend. He’s just not here. Sorry,” Murphy apologized.

“If he’s not here, then he won’t know, right?”

Murphy blinked and shook his head, his brow furrowed, feeling a little angry that Justin had implied he’d ever be willing to cheat, not just on Bellamy, but on anyone. “He’s a cop. A detective. And he would know. Because I’d tell him. So, no, I don’t want your number. And I’ve really got to get back to my brother.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t change your mind?” Justin asked, smiling slyly.

“No. Have a nice day.” Murphy grabbed the cart and walked away, a shiver running down his spine. What a fucking creep.

“Flirting?” Mbege teased, having not overheard the conversation. “See, now why couldn’t you go for a guy like that instead of Bellamy? He was cute.”

“He was pushy and creepy, and he implied I should cheat on Bellamy, which I would never do,” Murphy grumbled, handing the cart over to Mbege so he could put the box that Murphy assumed housed their new microwave in it. “And I’m happy with Bell, okay? I love him.”

He glared at the box like it was the reason for Mbege’s mistrust of Bellamy, though he knew it wasn’t and that his mistrust was well earned. But, that stupid fucking microwave was the entire reason they were in this store, so it was the entire reason Murphy had even had to speak to Justin. How dare he fucking imply that Murphy would be anything less than faithful to anyone he was with? He’d never cheat, it wasn’t in his nature. Fucking creepy ass employees. Fucking microwaves. Fucking Craig blowing up microwaves.

“Murphy, the microwave isn’t going to fight you, so stop looking like you want to fight it. I swear to God, if you break this one before we even buy it, I’m going to make you dig your own grave and bury you in it with a TV playing the Big Bang Theory on repeat. The _complete_ series. You will listen to it until you run out of oxygen and then I will keep it playing for the next ten years so that your soul won’t ever rest in peace,” Mbege threatened, resting an arm on top of the box protectively.

“Craig fought the last one. Why isn’t he buried?” Murphy pouted, turning away and busying himself looking at blenders.

“Because Craig didn’t mean to.”

“Or because he has your balls in a jar next to his side of the bed.”

“Right next to the one he keeps yours in,” Mbege sighed. “Think he’ll go back to normal after this is all over?”

“Probably. But the question is; will you still want to marry him after it’s all over?”

“He could straight up sever my spine and I’d still want to marry him. I love him, even if he’s being an insufferable ass right now. No matter what he does to me, no matter how much hell he has or will put me through, I’m always going to love that little shithead,” Mbege said, coming to stand next to Murphy.

They stood in silence for a moment before Mbege sighed again, “That’s how you feel about Bellamy, isn’t it? No matter what hell he’s put you through, you still love him?”

“Always will,” Murphy nodded. “Should we buy a new blender? Ours is a bit-”

“Dated?”

“Terrifying. It shoots sparks from the socket and one of the blades wobbles so much I’m afraid it’s going to fly off and gut me.”

“Then we should probably buy a new one.”

“Toaster, too.”

“Toaster, t- Murphy, did you break Eisenhower?”

“Maybe?” Murphy winced. “But honestly, who the hell names a toaster ‘Eisenhower?’”

“Craig did. And he loved that toaster.”

“So, we get a new one and glue googly eyes to it and let him name that one. He’ll be satisfied. Might even buy a fake mustache for it.”

“He’d like that.”

“But I get veto power on the name.”

“That’s not going to matter and you know it. Once he has a hold of the Sharpie, he’s a dictator. It’s his world, we just live in it.”

“His world is currently my least favorite place to be.”

“That why you’re spending so much time at Bellamy’s?”

“Half of it. The other half is because-”

“You love him. I got it,” Mbege rolled his eyes. He grabbed for a box, “Here, this one’s retro. You like that vintage shit, right? Cause you’re a closet hipster.”

Murphy scoffed, “I’m not a hipster and I’ve _never_ been in the closet. Not once.”

“Oh, you are. You totally are. Why else would you wear those ridiculous wire-framed glasses and read Vonnegut? And that shitty iced shit you call coffee? Hipster.”

“I’m not a hipster, Begs, I’m punk. I do it because I like it, not because it’s trendy or somehow cool. I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about it. You’re missing the combat boots, leather jacket, and giant collection of punk music.”

“Most of which is on vinyl. And you’ve got a fucking record player!”

“I found it at a thrift store!”

“You really aren’t helping your case.”

“I’m not building a case. I’m building a wall. A brick one. Ala Poe,” Murphy huffed.

“A wall? You’re either an emo hipster or an orange dictator, I’m not sure which anymore,” Mbege snorted. “Come on, toasters are this way, I think.”

“You did not just compare me to that bad toupee wearing, crayon scribbling, spellcheck nightmare.”

“I did.”

“That’s not even okay.”

“Nope, it’s not.”

“Then why?” Murphy cried, standing in front of the cart so that Mbege had to stop. “Why are you being mean to me? What have I done wrong?”

“You haven’t done anything, Murph. It’s just your general existence that calls for it,” Mbege grinned. “It’s like you wear a giant ‘kick me’ sign attached to you at all times. I’m just doing what the universe demands.”

Murphy laughed, “You’re not wrong.” He jumped up on the bottom rack of the cart and stuck his arms out, “Push.”

Mbege raised an eyebrow but did as ordered.

“And I will always love you….!” Murphy sang as Mbege snickered. They drew looks of curiosity that quickly turned to disdain from other customers as the continued down the aisle looking for the toasters.

When they finally found them, Murphy jumped off the cart and grabbed for an orange one. Speaking of that absolute political nightmare. “This.”

“Fuck. No. Put it back.”

“But, it’s pretty!”

“It’s ugly!”

“We could glue googly eyes on it and some fake hair and-”

“I’m using _my_ veto power. We’re not having a Donald Trump themed toaster.”

“But, it’d be funny!”

“No.”

“And we could get some Legos and build a little wall in front of it and stick a sign to it that says ‘white bread only.’”

“Would you stop?” Mbege asked, fighting a smile.

“Come on, please? Imagine it. Just think for a second. We could make breakfast great again!” Murphy laughed, holding the toaster close to his chest. “Please?”

“I swear to God, Murphy. If you don’t put it back right now-”

“Please? Look, I’m pretty sure that by buying this, we’ll be funding tax cuts for the rich. How great would that be?”

“Murphy, stop it. It’s not fucking funny,” Mbege choked out, trying to keep from laughing.

“Then why are you laughing? Just let it out, Mbege, it’s hilarious,” Murphy smirked, shaking the toaster. “You know what? I’m just gonna call Craig. We’re gonna take a vote. It’s democracy, bitch!”

“You’re gonna vote for Trump?” Mbege finally lost control of himself and let out a burst of laughter. “Have you forgotten your morals?”

“Breakfast doesn’t care about morals and neither does Trumpy the Toaster.”

“Craig’s gonna say yes,” Mbege groaned.

“Is that the sound of defeat I hear?”

“Fine, get the damn toaster.”

“Yes!” Murphy yelled and stuck the toaster in the front of the basket. “Now, to the craft supply aisle!”

“Do you know what you need?” Mbege asked, grumpily staring at the toaster. “Cause I’m not spending another hour in here while you search through aisles of things that look like they belong in the basement of a kindergarten teacher turned hoarder.”

“We need jewelry glue, because hot glue won’t work on a toaster, and googly eyes, cause Craig spilled the last of what we had in the driveway when we were trying to put them on your car-”

“You did what?”

“-and some foam to make a tie and hair. I’d use felt, but it might burn. Foam won’t look as good, but it’ll be safer, and I don’t want to kill Fuhrer Trumpy just yet. If he dies, it’ll be by public hanging.”

Mbege snorted and rolled his eyes, making his way to the craft aisles, Murphy trailing along behind him and looking at things.

“Murphy, put the towels back,” Mbege said without even looking.

“But-”

“No. You and Craig are just gonna cut holes in them to make capes like you did all our other ones. No.”

“I was drunk!”

“The first time!”

“Fine. No towels. But can we get this?” Murphy asked, holding up a Ninja Turtles themed cake pan.

“Do we need it?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“Baking cakes.”

“Uh-huh. Because you’re allowed to bake cakes.”

“I can mix them!”

“The last time I asked you to do that, you mixed it, then took the bowl and spoon and ran to the living room where you ate half of it. The answer is no.”

“Okay, then can we-”

“If the question ends with anything other than ‘go home now,’ the answer is no,” Mbege frowned.

“But-”

“Murphy, come on. It’s almost five, we’ve got to make supper, provided Craig doesn’t have the kitchen table covered in party favors.”

That was another thing he had to deal with today. If Craig hadn’t killed the microwave this morning, he’d be home with him. Maybe he should have left Murphy with him. That would have saved him the shame of having to look the cashier in the eye while he bought toy swords and an orange fucking toaster. Of all the things that orange bastard had inspired, this was the one that irked Mbege the most. At least, today. Well, so far today. He hadn’t read the news, yet, but he doubted anything would top Trumpy the goddamn Toaster. What the hell was wrong with him and why was he willing to go along with this? Why didn’t he just leave Murphy in the toy aisle and promise to pick him up in six years?

“How about we just get pizza? That way we don’t have to make Craig move. He might actually cut our balls off this time,” Murphy said, coming up behind Mbege and resting his head on his back. “I’m tired.”

“Then let’s hurry up and go home. We’ll eat and you can go to bed early.”

“Craig won’t let me,” Murphy whined. Craig had kept him up well past three last night making party favors and deciding on which candy they should have and it was all a blur. He hadn’t gotten to sleep until he fell asleep on the table and Mbege had all but carried him upstairs. Actually, now that he thought about it, “Did you carry me to bed last night?”

“You passed out at the table,” Mbege shrugged.

“I know that. Did you literally carry my ass to bed last night?”

“And tucked you in and read you a bedtime story.”

“Begsy!”

“Yes, Murphy, I carried your scrawny ass up to bed right before I forced Craig to our room. Which reminds me, have you been eating at all? You weigh like, half of what Craig weighs,” Mbege said with concern.

“Yes, Begs. But I’ve also been running around the city all day, every day. I’m fine. Don’t be such a mother hen,” Murphy huffed, pressing his face into Mbege’s back.

Mbege smiled softly, “I’m gonna start walking now, if you fall on your face, that’s your problem.”

Murphy shook his head and wrapped his arms around him, “Stay. I want to nap.”

“Walk with me, pick out your shit, come to checkout and help me put this shit in the car, then you can nap while we wait for pizza. And then you can eat. Then you can go to bed early, regardless of what Craig thinks, and you can wake up in time to see that apartment on eighty-third,” Mbege bargained.

“Or I could nap here for an hour and stay up with Craig all night again,” Murphy countered.

“Move your ass, shithead, I’m getting tired of being in this store and people are staring at us.”

Murphy raised his head and looked around, squinting at the elderly couple giving them a dirty look. “What? You’ve never seen a man take a nap in the middle of a department store before? Go ahead, take a picture, then! Use your little point and snap camera you bought on vacation to Florida last Christmas because your family didn’t want to spend it with you! There’s a twenty-four-hour photo center here, develop it and share with your friends at the nursing home!” He yelled at them, snickering when they huffed and turned around.

“That was rude,” Mbege sighed.

“And?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be nice to old people? Isn’t that part of your punk thing?”

“Only when they’re carrying groceries or crossing sidewalks. Otherwise, it’s open season on senior citizens. Especially when they’re looking at us like _that,_ ” Murphy spat.

“Like what?” Mbege asked, furrowing his brow.

“They had the same look that old people give you and Craig every time you hold hands in public. Or whenever I do anything that even remotely looks couple-y with you. It’s that stupid look they get as they remember back to the 50s when they could have had us, well, you, arrested for it. It pisses me off,” Murphy grumbled, letting go of Mbege and straightening his hair. “They deserve to be shouted at.”

“Oh,” Mbege nodded. He shook his head, unbothered. Why should he care about the opinions of some old fucks who’d be dead in three years? “Come on, Murphy. Let’s get the rest of our shit and go.”

Murphy nodded and put his hand on the basket, looking at Mbege.

“What?”

“Does it not bother you?”

“I’m used to it, Murphy. We have this conversation every time it happens. My answer hasn’t changed. It sucks, but you get used to it. Why?”

Murphy shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s just…”

“Just what, Murphy?”

“They give the same looks to me and Bellamy sometimes.”

“Look, Murph, it sucks but you can’t change their minds by shouting at them. If the Supreme Court and fifty years couldn’t change their minds, then nothing will. Don’t worry so much about them, they don’t matter. Half of them don’t vote and it’s not like they’re going to overturn a ruling just because some uppity little old lady got offended by seeing you hug me. That’s not how it works. I’m gonna tell you what Dad told me, okay? Don’t pay attention to them. Don’t. Don’t give them your time or your peace of mind. There’s nothing wrong with loving who you love. You’re not doing anything wrong, they are by judging you, so don’t let them upset you, because if their lives are so dull and sad that they have nothing better to do than get upset by someone else’s relationship, then they don’t need your anger, they need your pity. So, fuck them, okay?”

“That’s what he told me when I had my first boyfriend.”

“Well, it’s good advice.”

“That last bit wasn’t in there, though.”

“Gotta add a bit of myself to it, you know? Keep it up to date.”

Murphy snorted and slowed his pace so he was standing next to Mbege. “Thanks, Begs.”

“Anytime, little bro. Even if I don’t like you being with Bellamy, I don’t think you should be bothered by those people. It’s stupid for them to care.”

“I don’t know why you won’t just accept that I love him,” Murphy sighed. He’d tried everything he could think of to get Mbege to come around, but he wouldn’t.

“I accept that. And I accept he loves you. I just don’t accept that it’s good for you.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m an adult and can make my own decisions.”

Mbege frowned. He felt a little bit of deja-vu, but maybe he was wrong this time. Maybe it would actually work out for them. He hoped so, for Murphy’s sake. “Are you happy? With him, I mean? Does he make you happy?”

Murphy nodded, “Happier than I’ve been in a while.”

“Then I hope it works out for you.” And he did, he really did.

“Thanks, Begs.”

“I still don’t trust him, though.” And he wouldn’t until Bellamy proved he would never do anything that would hurt Murphy, that he wouldn’t keep secrets or lie to him, for any reason. If he showed him that, then maybe he would trust him with Murphy. Maybe.

“He’s not going to hurt me again,” Murphy told him. He reached out and linked their arms on the handle of the cart. “He won’t, okay?”

Mbege smiled down at him for a moment before shaking his head and turning their cart down an aisle that looked like a summer camp arts and crafts tent had exploded. “He had better not.”

._-*-_.

“So, this one time, he brings me this flashdrive, right? And I’m skeptical, because I highly doubt some lowlife drug runner actually has any real information on what’s going on in the cartel or gang or business, whatever they were calling it. And I tell him so, right?” Monty began, turning away from his computer to grab a slice of pizza from the box on the table and plopping down on the couch next to Murphy.

Murphy nodded, enthralled in Monty’s stories. So far he’d learned about the time Bellamy had gone undercover at a school, despite looking like he should have been graduating college, and the time he’d almost gotten arrested for stalking and had to call Kane to prove he was really a detective and the girl was potentially in danger and he’d been assigned to follow her in case the murderer showed up and tried to kill her, and his personal favorite, the time Bellamy had wrapped everything in Kane’s office in gift wrap, complete with giant bow for his birthday, which had caused a stapler to be chunked at his head and glitter bombs to be put in his desk at least once a week for the next two months.

He liked Monty’s stories. They gave him insight into who Bellamy was around everyone else. According to Monty, he could be a real asshole at times, and Murphy believed it, but he was glad that he wasn’t a complete stickler for the rules. He liked knowing Bellamy could have fun at work, it made him seem like a more relaxed person, because Murphy worried about him almost constantly due to how stressed he seemed to be when he got off work. Monty had assured him it was just the case he was on, something about drug dealers who kept giving him the slip and a snitch who couldn’t be bothered to double check his information.

“So, what was on the flashdrive?” Murphy asked, taking a bite of his own slice.

“Porn. Loads of porn. Of himself. And I’m telling you, this guy had some weird ass kinks, like, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It was so fucking weird. Like, I’m not going to judge, ya know? I’ve got my own weird shit, but it was just insane. The variety and creativeness of the videos was astounding,” Monty shook his head with a quiet laugh. “It was hilarious to see Bellamy’s face when I told him. Even better when I showed him.”

“So, he got a flashdrive of porn from a snitch?”

“Yeah. And then the guy skipped town! He just took off. Bellamy couldn’t find him until he showed up six months later in the cage for public lewdness. Probably making another video. He just, popped back up and when he saw Bellamy he greeted him like an old friend. I wish I could have been there to see _that._ Would have made my week,” Monty snickered.

“He does a lot of stupid shit, doesn’t he?” Murphy snorted.

“Yeah, but I mean, his closure rate is higher than anybody’s. He’s a great detective, but he can be a bit of an idiot at times. He’s one of my best friends, though. I don’t know what I’d do without him. He drug my ass in here so many times, but he never charged me. He wasn’t even a beat cop, he just saw Jasper and I in the cage one day and decided we were going to be his pet project. Every time we were in trouble, he was there, bailing us out and giving us a lecture. At first it didn’t stick, but after a while, well, we figured he was right, so we got our GEDs and went to college three years early. Finished when we were nineteen and he got us jobs here. I mean, we’d been in here so many times it had started to feel like home, anyway.”

“So, he just got you a job because he liked you?”

“Well, it’s kind of how the department works. Kane drags people in for various crimes and when they get old enough, he puts them through academy and then helps them make detective so they can be somebody. It’s like a big brother project. He’s saved so many of us from bullshit lives that would have gotten us arrested for good, or worse. I mean, if it’s not him, it’s Bellamy. They’re just really good at finding lost puppies and nursing them back to health and making them feel like they’re part of something. Most of us come from fucked up families, my mom was in a cult, actually. So, like, he gives us a home we can rely on, they both do. I lost count of how many nights Jasper and I spent at Bellamy’s place either detoxing or hiding from some crazy shit with our home lives,” Monty said, settling into the couch. “They’re good people. Kane’s like a father figure and Bellamy’s got that big brother thing going on. Everyone feels like they belong here, like we’re a family, no matter how much Kane complains about it being a circus.”

“A cult?” Sure, Monty’s story was great, and Murphy had a new respect for both Kane and Bellamy, but he was a little stuck on the cult thing.

“Yeah. Some creepy church group. I don’t even know what religion they were, but it was insane. She kept trying to convert me, too. Don’t get me wrong, she was a good person and I loved her, but she wasn’t the best mom, not after she joined them. Before, she was great, the best you could ask for. Then my dad died and she kinda lost it. I guess she joined the cult to fill the void. I wish she wouldn’t have, but it made her happy for a while, so I dealt with it. Then, about six years ago, she drank the Kool-Aid and now she’s gone.” Monty grinned a bit sadly, “I’m officially an orphan! I’m Batman! Hence the Batcave.”

“That’s some shit, man. I’m sorry.” That was all Murphy could think to say.

“Yeah, well, Jasper had it worse, so I’m not gonna complain,” Monty shrugged.

“Who is Jasper, anyway? Bellamy’s mentioned him, but he’s never taken me to meet him, so, like, who is he?” Murphy asked, curious.

“He’s my best friend. Like, I wouldn’t be alive without this dude,” Monty grinned. “You wanna meet him?”

“Sure,” Murphy nodded. “When?”

“Now. He’s in his lab, probably trying to blow shit up. It’s what he does best.”

Murphy tossed his half-eaten slice of pizza back in the box and stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans, “Let’s go. I love blowing shit up.”

“You’re gonna love him, then.”

Monty led him out of the Batcave and down the hall to a door that was covered in various stickers, from bands to comics to political references. Murphy snorted because there was no way that could be regulation for a police station, but he guessed Kane was right about it being a circus. But, what did he expect when all he hired were former delinquents? He wondered if he hadn’t got sent to juvie and had continued raising hell if Kane would have dragged his ass here when he graduated and given him a job, too. Possibly. He was here enough, but Kane hadn’t really taken much of an interest in him that he knew of. Of course, that was probably his fault because every time someone had shown him even the slightest bit of kindness or care, he’d snapped at them and done everything he could to push them away, so they didn’t get close and hurt him when they failed to protect him.

He vaguely remembered Kane, actually. It had been why he was so scared of him during his interrogation. He’d been kind but stern and had tried to figure out why Murphy was doing what he was, but Murphy had just sneered at him and told him to fuck off. Several times, until Kane no longer came to see him when he’d gotten arrested. Maybe he should apologize. Knowing what he did now, it seemed like he’d actually been trying to help.

“Murphy?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry. Got lost for a second, but I swear, I’m paying attention now,” Murphy smiled sheepishly.

“It’s cool. You ready to meet Jasper?” Monty asked, excited. He really liked Murphy and he hoped he liked Jasper so the three could hang out. It’d be nice to have more friends, especially ones outside the department. He didn’t really get out much anymore, so he didn’t have all that many that weren’t some form of law enforcement.

“Yeah,” Murphy grinned. “Can’t wait to blow shit up.”

Monty laughed and pulled the door open. Murphy half expected smoke to start pouring out and rave lights to flash, but all he saw was pristine white machines and a thousand knick-knacks scattered throughout them. All in all, it was impressive, and just as personalized as the Batcave.

“Welcome to the Secret Sanctum!” A voice rang out and before Murphy could blink there was a clatter of things dropping to the ground and a very lanky ball of red vaulting over a table to land in front of him. “Who are you and do you want to see what happens when you pour melted aluminum into a watermelon?”

Murphy blinked, in shock from the blur of noise and commotion that had just unraveled in front of him. He shook his head and tried to take in the man in front of him. He was tall and his limbs didn’t quite fit the rest of his body, like he’d never fully grown into them, but he was smiling wide and looked a little too friendly, so Murphy figured he was safe. He wore a red lab coat and a pair of goggles on his head that made Murphy laugh a little. This guy was some kind of insane, he was sure, but he liked him already.

“I’m Murphy, John Murphy,” Murphy said when he’d finally gotten over the shock.

“Murphy as in Bellamy’s one true love Murphy? The princess from all of his fairy tales? The Patroclus to his Achilles? The one that got away for two whole years and sent Bellamy into a spiral of angst until he finally got a second chance and perked the fuck up? The guy who removed the stick from his ass? The one he never, ever, _ever_ shuts the fuck up about? That Murphy?” Jasper rambled on, smiling the whole time.

“Uh, I guess?” Well, he wasn’t sure what to make of that, but it had been entertaining.

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Murphy. I’m Jasper Jordan, lab tech extraordinaire and resident Superman,” he introduced himself, sticking out a hand.

Murphy took it and Jasper gave a shake that Murphy was pretty sure he felt in his whole body. “Nice to meet you, too?” He wasn’t so sure.

“Now, about that watermelon?” Jasper asked, turning back to the table. When he turned around, Murphy saw there was a Superman symbol on the back of his coat, except it had a J instead of an S. It was cool, Murphy thought. Nerdy as all hell, but cool.

“Um, sure? Are you allowed to do that?” Murphy didn’t want to be an accessory to something that would make Kane angry. He’d heard horror stories from Bellamy and he didn’t want to experience that in person.

“Well, yes and also no. It depends on who you ask,” Jasper whirled around, a wild look on his face and held a finger up, “and who you tell.”

“So, don’t tell Kane?” Murphy asked.

“Definitely don’t tell Kane,” Monty laughed. “He’s got enough to worry about without knowing about what goes on down here. As long as nothing expensive gets broken and we get our work done, he doesn’t really ask questions. Not after the time he caught us recreating a crime scene from the red light district with mannequins dressed in those goose dresses from White Chicks. He doesn’t really want to know, ya know?”

Murphy nodded and followed the two deeper into the room, carefully stepping over the things that had fallen to the floor. It looked like a couple test tubes and the contents of a Lego set mixed with the remnants of a third-grade science project, but he wasn’t too sure.

They lead him to the very back of the lab where a watermelon set on a table, a hole carefully cut out of the top. What looked like a modified metal Easy-Bake Oven with a can of red hot liquid metal inside was perched on a second, smaller table, along with a pair of long tongs and some gloves. The whole area was covered in sheets of plastic and Murphy was almost certain they were about to murder him.

Jasper held out two pairs of safety glasses for them both, cheerfully saying, “It might explode, and I don’t want to have to deal with the paperwork if you go blind. That would be a nightmare for all of us. So, glasses. I’m not going to make you wear aprons, cause they look stupid as fuck, but some lab safety is necessary. Put them on and prepare yourself, I’m about to make history!”

“Jasper, this experiment has been done before. You’re not making history, you’re just making a mess,” Monty sighed.

“Do you not want to see it?” Jasper asked, his excitement dimming a bit.

“No! Of course I do! I just don’t want to clean up afterwards, that’s all,” Monty assured him.

“Well, too bad. This is a team effort. You stay for the show, you stay for the clean up. Even you,” Jasper said, looking pointedly at Murphy.

“Sure, that’s cool. I’ve got no plans.” His apartment showing had been that morning and he liked it, he was considering renting it, actually, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get the deposit together before the other couple who were looking at it did. Plus, even if he did, the guy still might sell it to them, and there was no getting the deposit back, and Murphy wasn’t going to spend out $700 just to lose the apartment. He’d have to really think it over.

“Great! Then enjoy the show!” Jasper cheered. He slipped on the gloves and grabbed the tongs, holding them out as far away from himself as he could. “It’s gonna get messy!”

He picked up the can from Wednesday Addam’s Easy-Bake Oven and walked slowly over to the watermelon. “Stand back!”

Murphy too a step back and watched, feeling a little more excited than he wanted to admit.

Jasper quickly poured the metal into the watermelon and jumped back, the can clattering to the ground and burning a hole in the plastic. Murphy watched the watermelon with anticipation, smiling wide when he heard it crack and explode, sending chunks everywhere. A few pieces caught on fire and one whizzed past Murphy’s head.

“Ah!” he yelled, grabbing the side of his head.

“Oh, shit!” Jasper said, running over to him. “Did it burn you?”

Monty grabbed for a first aid kit stashed under the table and pulled it out. “I got the kit.”

“No, no! I’m good. It’s not burnt that bad. It just caught me off guard. I’m alright,” he assured them, pulling his hand away from the side of his head. “It didn’t get me too bad, I don’t think.”

“Uh, well…” Monty trailed off.

“Er, it, well, I’m not sure how to put it, really…” Jasper tried. “Here, I’ve got a mirror.”

“A mirror?” Murphy asked, confused. Then it dawned on him, “It didn’t get my hair, did it?”

That would be a nightmare. Murphy loved his hair. He’d had the same hairstyle since he was sixteen. It was perfect for him. Long enough to be edgy but not so long that it got in his way. Plus, it went with the whole ‘fuck gender roles’ aesthetic he tried to keep up.

Jasper returned with the mirror and held it out to Murphy. “It’s not that bad?”

Murphy grimaced as he raised the mirror to his face. The grimace turned to a look of horror when he saw the side of his head. “Oh, God. My head’s gone. What the hell? How the fuck do I explain this?”

“Just don’t tell Bellamy and you’ll be fine,” Jasper shrugged.

“Yeah, he shouldn’t even notice. He’s not the most observant, you know,” Monty chimed in.

“Half my head is gone. I’m pretty sure he’ll notice.”

Jasper winced, “Uh, I don’t know, distract him?”

“How the hell… Fuck it, I don’t care. It’s fine. I’ll be fine. It’s just hair,” Murphy said a little sadly. He loved his hair, but maybe it was time for a change. He needed one. This might be a good start. “I’ll just get a haircut tomorrow morning and he’ll never know what happened.”

“Good idea!” Jasper nodded. “Now, do you want to take apart the rest of the watermelon and see the sculpture?”

“Sculpture?” Murphy asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” Monty said. “When you pour molten metal into a fruit, it turns into a sculpture. I’ve got two in my lab and three in our house. Jasper has like five in here.”

“Mhm. So, you can have this one if you want it. They’re pretty damn cool,” Jasper offered.

“Sure?” He could use décor for his new apartment.

Jasper smiled and turned to the table, grabbing a knife and cutting the rest of the watermelon open, revealing a bright, silvery, odd-looking little sculpture that he held out to Murphy. “See? Wicked, right?”

“That’s fucking sick,” Murphy said, turning the metal over in his hand. “And I can keep it?”

“Yeah. We’ve got enough and we’re always making more. So, if you want another one, you’re more than welcome to join us for another experiment. We’ll get you a helmet next time,” Jasper laughed.

“Cool, thanks. And yeah, I’d love to see another experiment.”

“So, you liked it?” Monty asked, hopeful.

Murphy nodded, “Yeah, you two are cool. You should come over to my place some time and hang out with my brothers and I. If you want to. It’ll have to be after the wedding, though.”

“That’d be great,” Monty smiled. “Just let us know when. We’re free most nights, actually. We could get drinks sometime, if you want?”

“I don’t drink,” Murphy told them. “But, I’m more than willing to tag along, if you’d like.”

“Nah, we can do something else. Get burgers or some shit. Maybe even laser tag sometime?” Jasper suggested. He was like Monty, he didn’t have many friends outside of the department, and he liked Murphy, he seemed cool. Not at all like the criminal everyone had been convinced he was, though, Jasper had stayed clear of it. He hadn’t wanted to get involved. Murder cases weren’t his thing, too much violence. He’d do the work, but he wouldn’t ask for details.

“Hell, yeah. That sounds great,” Murphy nodded.

“Awesome. Now, time to clean this shit up. We can just throw the plastic away, but the table needs to be wiped down…”

._-*-_.

“I don’t like it,” Murphy huffed when Bellamy ruffled what was left of his hair. “It looks stupid.”

He’d gotten a haircut earlier that morning, picked it out from a book, it looked kinda punk, but not as punk as he would have liked it too. They stylist had screwed up and cut it a little too short and made him look more like he was going to apply for a position at a bank than like he was about to go out and topple oppressive power structures. He’d still tipped and he’d lied about liking it, because there was nothing she could do to fix it, but he felt stupid.

“I think it’s cute,” Bellamy laughed, pulling Murphy close to him. He had the day off for some holiday, or well, he’d been forced to take it off considering how much overtime he already had, so even though it wasn’t an official day off for the rest of the department, Kane had used it as an excuse to make him go home. Murphy wasn’t going to complain, though, it meant he had Bellamy all to himself for the day, since he’d given Craig the slip, leaving Mbege to deal with him and his obsessive tendencies and dress hunting.

Technically, Mbege couldn’t see it, but he could calm Craig down while he went through magazines for inspiration. He and Murphy had narrowed it down to a few styles, but Craig still wanted a good reference for when he went to the shop tomorrow, which he was going to drag Murphy to, and Murphy was not looking forward to Craig crying in a dressing room because it wasn’t perfect. Murphy loved him, and he was glad he was officially being brought into the family and he could call him his brother for real, but dammit, he was so stressed that he was being overdramatic about everything now. He’d gotten over the bridezilla thing for the most part, but now he was having breakdowns about everything and it was somehow worse, because seeing him cry made Murphy want to fuck up whoever or whatever had done it, but he couldn’t very well fight the florist that quit on them because then he’d go to jail. He’d settled for leaving a scathing Yelp review, but it hadn’t felt like enough.

Murphy sighed and pressed himself against Bellamy, feeling comforted by his arms and knowing that no matter how crazy the wedding stuff got, he could always escape and Bellamy would make him forget about it altogether, “You think?

Bellamy nodded and pressed a kiss to Murphy’s forehead. “Yes. You look very professional. Now we just need to work on your wardrobe.”

Murphy scoffed and pulled back enough to give Bellamy a dirty look, “I look amazing.”

Bellamy snorted, “You look like you’re ready to see Fall Out Boy live.”

“And they’re a good band,” Murphy defended himself. He saw nothing wrong with how he dressed. Just because his jeans were ripped didn’t mean anything. He’d destroyed them himself, thank you very much, and it had taken a whole afternoon to get them just right. And some people’s opinions of his shirts wasn’t a reflection on him. If they didn’t like knowing that ‘America Was Never Great,’ well, that was their problem for sleeping through history class. He had style, and it was a good style, he liked it, so nobody else’s opinions mattered.

Bellamy shrugged, “I wouldn’t hire you.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I’m not asking you for a job,” Murphy snapped, pulling away from Bellamy and crossing his arms.

“Come on, babe, you need to look more professional. Not a whole lot, but you want a job, right? Let me help.”

“You’re gonna put me in a monkey suit.”

“Suits look nice.”

“Yeah, on _you._ Whenever I wear one it looks like I’m going to a funeral.”

“Whose funeral would you be going to?”

“My dignity’s,” Murphy huffed. Bellamy was probably right, though. He had to dress more professionally if he wanted a real job. He got away with it at COL, but only because Jaha had fought for him. Anywhere else, he’d get reprimanded and possibly fired for it.

“Babe, I promise, I won’t make you look like you’re going to a funeral. You don’t have to wear a suit. You just need to look more professional, so people will take you seriously when you interview them.”

“Did you take me seriously when I interviewed you?”

Bellamy bit his lip, trying to find an easy way to say it, but he found none. He sighed, “No, not really. I thought you ran an underground gore blog or something from your parent’s basement. I also thought you looked ridiculous. Hot, sure, later, when I wasn’t pissed at you, but as far as first impressions go, I didn’t take you seriously at all.”

Murphy frowned, “Fine.” Then he smiled, “But would you have fucked me? Like, if it wasn’t a crime scene and you weren’t as pissed. If we’d met in a bar or something. Would you have fucked me?”

Bellamy grinned and took a step closer to Murphy, grabbing his hips and pulling him back in. “I would have ripped that stupid t-shirt right off you and thrown you on a bed and fucked you senseless.”

Murphy nodded, satisfied, “Good. Now, if I wore a suit or some shit, would you want to fuck me as much?”

“I’d take your tie and wrap it around your wrists and tie you to my headboard, gag you with mine, and fuck you until you couldn’t take it anymore,” Bellamy whispered, pressing a kiss to Murphy’s neck.

“So, you’re saying you would fuck me no matter what I wore?” Murphy asked, baring his neck for Bellamy so he could keep going.

“It doesn’t matter what you wear because by the time I got you home, you wouldn’t have it on, anyway,” Bellamy told him between kisses. “That being said, if I could ever convince you to wear a skirt for me, I don’t think we’d even make it back here.”

Murphy moaned quietly when Bellamy gently scraped his teeth against his skin before biting down and sucking a mark. “You want me in a skirt?”

“I do, if you ever wanted to wear one,” Bellamy admitted. He’d wanted to see Murphy in a skirt since he’d first found out about his loose perception of gender. “Maybe lacy panties, too.”

“I’ve got both, actually,” Murphy said, a little shyly. “I could wear them for you.”

“Yeah?” Bellamy smiled against Murphy’s skin. “You’d be okay with that?”

“As long as you don’t rip them, I’m fine with it,” Murphy nodded.

“I’ll be gentle, I promise,” Bellamy said, sucking another mark that left Murphy squirming.

“So, are you going to fuck me or fix my wardrobe, I need to know what’s going on today,” Murphy asked, pulling Bellamy so close there was no space left between them. “I mean, I know which one I’d prefer, but you do have a point and I would like to get a job sometime soon.”

“I’ll help you fix your wardrobe, then. But I’m not done yet.”

“You’re just gonna get me all turned on and then leave me like that so I’m more compliant when we go shopping because I want to get home faster so you’ll fuck me. That’s exactly what you’re doing, isn’t it?” Murphy scowled but made no move to pull away.

“It might be,” Bellamy grinned, sucking one last mark on Murphy’s neck before pulling back. “Or I might be marking you up so that when we go out, everyone knows you’re mine.”

“So, this is you being possessive?” Murphy smirked. “You’re not gonna start grabbing my ass in public whenever someone looks at me, right?”

“I might start doing that, actually. I mean, after that incident with the Target guy, I think it might be a good idea to make sure everyone knows you’re taken. Unless you’re against that?” If he was, Bellamy would stop, no hesitation. He didn’t want to make Murphy uncomfortable.

“No, no. I’m _very_ much for it.” Murphy didn’t usually like possessive guys, but Bellamy was a special case. He wanted everyone to know he was Bellamy’s, and every time Bellamy did something to show that, it reminded Murphy, too. He liked knowing Bellamy wanted him enough to be possessive. And the fact that he didn’t do it in a creepy stalker way like Richards had was probably another reason why he didn’t mind it.

“Good. Then let’s go,” Bellamy grinned, letting go of Murphy and grabbing his keys. “I can’t wait to see you in a tie.”

“I’m not wearing a jacket. That’s too much.”

“How about a vest?”

“Am I going to a wedding?”

“Not yet.”

“Then no.”

“Fine. But I’m putting you in at least one pair of slacks.”

Murphy sighed and followed him to his car. It was going to be a long day.

Two hours later, Murphy stood in front of a mirror wearing a pair of dark wash blue jeans with no rips, a light pink button down, and a black tie. He had to admit, it didn’t look horrible. It wasn’t what he would prefer, but it was alright.

“The tie’s too much,” he muttered too himself, shaking his head and taking it off. “I don’t like it.”

“I think you’ll like this one better,” Bellamy said, coming up to him from the racks of clothes, holding a shopping bag. “Here, I’ll put it on you, then you can see it.”

He pulled the tie from a bag and put it around Murphy’s neck, tying it for him. “There you go.”

“Where the hell have you been, anyway?” Murphy asked, furrowing his brow. Bellamy had disappeared fifteen minutes ago and Murphy had been left to wander the racks alone.

“I may have gone to a different store. One with a more _alternative_ fashion. Look at the tie.”

Murphy groaned but turned towards the mirror. His eyebrows shot up and a grin spread across his face when he saw it. It was plain white with a black skull and crossbones at the bottom. It looked nothing like the ties he’d been trying on. He absolutely loved it. “Nice.”

“I thought you’d like it. I got three colors of that one, one with a full skeleton, and a rainbow one. Figured you could still express yourself, just in a subtler way,” Bellamy told him, resting his hands on Murphy’s waist. “I like this color on you.”

Murphy turned his head so he could kiss Bellamy’s cheek, “Thank you. I love it.”

During the two hours they’d been here, Bellamy had completely changed his style. Less offensive t-shirts and more button downs, no more ripped jeans or political patches. The one thing he’d insisted on keeping was his combat boots. They weren’t going anywhere. Bellamy had finally relented but demanded, “Then for fuck’s sake, tie them!”

Murphy looked himself over in the mirror. He didn’t completely hate it. But, still, he frowned, “I look like an adult.”

Bellamy snorted, “Oh, the horror.”

“Fuck off.”

“Come on, get dressed, we’ll check out and go eat,” Bellamy told him.

“Then what are we going to do?”

“We could shop more. Maybe find some better looking boots or some more ties. Maybe a nice belt. And then…”

“And then?”

“Then I’m gonna take you home and pin you against a wall and fuck you until you’re screaming my name so loud the neighbors call in a noise complaint,” Bellamy smirked and ran his hands up Murphy’s sides. “Sound good?”

“Very good,” Murphy nodded, feeling his dick twitch in his pants. He took a deep breath, they still had at least a few hours left in the mall. He could wait. But the marks Bellamy had left were still visible above his collar and he could almost feel Bellamy’s lips on his neck. Maybe he was right and Bellamy had just done it to make him more compliant. It had probably worked, considering how little of a fuss he’d made about the button downs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess which bitch got their tumblr updated? That's right. Finally. Bc I need another thing to distract me from what I should be doing, like writing the next chap of this damn fic. Anyway, it's here: [assholemurphy](http://assholemurphy.tumblr.com/) Come shout at me to hurry the hell up or bitch me out abt not putting my fics on my blog yet.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Sup, howdy, what's going on? Okay, so, this is about a day late, but I have a decent excuse this time! I watched Infinity War and I needed time to grieve and it took me a while to get out of that funk. However, I do plan to start writing these sooner instead of fucking around on the interwebs and doing god knows what. No, seriously, I can't remember a single thing I've done this week except google 'spiky thing bdsm.' It was a Wartenberg Pinwheel. I also watched Infinity War and I'm not gonna lie. I'm a bit broken. More than a bit. Completely shattered, actually. No spoilers but goddammit why? There was no good reason for that and if they don't fix it, I'm gonna break into Stan Lee's house myself wearing a cheaply made Spiderman suit and steal all his right shoes. Idc if he's not the one who wrote it, he allowed it and that's all that matters. Ofc, I also plan to break into Markus and McFeely's houses and fill their refrigerators and cabinets with nothing but lime flavored sugar free jello packets. And every time they buy groceries I'll do it again. Until they fix what they've done.
> 
> But, that doesn't matter one bit to the story. This is nothing but cliche sappy nonsense. That's it. It's smut, but it's sappy smut so it doesn't really count. I'm willing to bet I used the words 'sweet' and 'gentle' at least twelve times each, if not more. (Please don't count just to see how far off I am. It's shameful enough that I couldn't be bothered to find a damn thesaurus.) So, that's what this is.
> 
> Next chapter should be up by next Wed. It will contain: A shopping trip and a suspicious can of water chestnuts. A cake tasting and honestly, Mbege should be a detective with as good as he is at interrogations. And lastly, a new case for our favorite detective that shines light on who the villain of this story is.
> 
> But! An important note! I may have started plotting for a part 3 to this bullshit excuse for a story. Depending on how this one goes over at the end, I might write it. (Haha, it doesn't matter, I'm gonna write it anyway bc I love my plot.) I also have titles for at least two other fics, and with as many new villains as the show keeps giving us, I could def do something with them. If anyone wants to stick around for those, but that's a very hard _maybe_. So, like, a part 3, anyone? Lmk what you think bc I need to know if anyone actually wants to read it so I can gauge how fast I should plot it. (If ppl are interested, it'll most likely take place after Zephyranthes, my Murphonty multi-chap fic that was asked for a long time ago that I've got plotted and just need to write.)
> 
> Enjoy!

Murphy had been with Bellamy for almost two months now. In that two months he’d fallen for him harder than he’d ever fallen for anyone. He spent most nights with him at his place, either because they’d slept together or because he’d fallen asleep watching movies and by the time Bellamy woke him up to move into the bedroom, it was too late to argue, not that he ever would. He loved him, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life loving him. He didn’t care what anyone said, Bellamy wasn’t going to fuck up, he’d been nothing but caring and loving and absolutely amazing the whole time and Murphy was never going to let go of him.

Unfortunately, the past two months hadn’t been all great. Sure, his relationship was damn near perfect, but his job search and apartment hunt were driving him insane. Nobody wanted to hire a killer, falsely accused or not, and it wasn’t like his previous work experience was all that great, having done a bunch of disconnected articles that didn’t really show what he could do given a decent position and a little bit of free reign so that he could cover cases that mattered, not just fluff pieces for a failing paper. He’d been sending his blog to all the jobs he was applying for, but there were only so many papers in the city, only so many positions available, and he’d even stooped so low as to apply for jobs for magazines. He’d even applied as a dramaturge for the local theatre and was waiting to hear back. It wasn’t his ideal job, but it was something.

But, so far, he’d had no luck. Sure, he had a decent income from the ads on his blog and the research papers he may or may not be doing for slacker college kids, so he wasn’t broke, but it wasn’t a steady income and it wasn’t what he wanted. He was good at what he did, and he knew eventually someone would see that, but his reputation was trashed, so it was likely he wouldn’t get hired no matter how good he was. He didn’t blame Bellamy anymore, he’d heard exactly what had happened and he knew he’d meant no actual harm. Yes, he’d fucked up, but it hadn’t been his intention for any of this to happen and Murphy wasn’t going to hold a grudge against the person he loved. He did blame Alie, though, and he knew one day he’d get back at her. He had enough dirt on the paper and what went on there to take them all down. He just had to find a way to keep Jaha from getting caught in the crossfire. Then he’d burn the place down. Maybe even literally.

But, before he could do that, he needed a job at a reputable paper, which he hadn’t found yet. As much as he loved his blog, which he planned to keep even after he got a job for the stories he couldn’t publish in the paper, he needed a real paper to help him get his revenge. It wasn’t all about revenge, of course, but it would be a nice bonus to see Alie go down in flames. After all, there was a reason she donated so much to the mayor’s campaign, back when he was in office and not prison. He was trying to form a plan, a way to take her down and a way to guarantee all her employees kept their jobs, but it wasn’t easy. It would take time. Years, probably, because while he had enough to expose her, he couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t spin the whole thing to make herself look like a victim. He had to get hard evidence, something even she couldn’t deny, and it was hard to do that legally.

But, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. He’d save that for another day, after he’d established himself at a paper and fixed his reputation. Then he’d use his platform to take her down. He just needed a good reason, because if he attacked her out of the blue, it would be too easy to accuse him of bullying and everyone would rally around the victim. No, he needed a reason. But, state elections were in two years and he had a feeling he’d get his chance then. He could wait.

Murphy sighed as he pushed open the door to the station. He’d figure it all out eventually. First, he needed a place to live and a job so he could pay rent. He was frustrated and irritated and he just wanted to see Bellamy because Bellamy always made things better. No matter how shitty his day had been, seeing Bellamy always cheered him up, and today had been a shitty day.

He’d gotten into a fight with Drew because Drew had made Craig cry, it had been an accident, but Murphy hadn’t been able to control his mouth and they’d worked things out but Murphy still felt like an asshole. Then, his apartment viewing had been horrible. He could see the rats scurrying about the second the landlord opened the door and there was no way he was going to live there. He’d gotten a job interview at a magazine, some fashion one, and Murphy knew a lot about fashion because of Craig, but he didn’t have any real experience, so he doubted he’d get hired, no matter how nice the interviewer had been to him, so that sucked. Not that he wanted to work in fashion, but he was getting desperate and was willing to do just about anything at this point.

He frowned when he saw that Bellamy wasn’t at his desk. That happened often, Bellamy had cases to work and he wasn’t always around, but usually someone was. This time it was Miller who waved him over.

Murphy clutched his folder to his chest and made his way across the room to sit down in the chair that Miller had pulled from an unoccupied desk. “Hey.”

“How’s it going, Murph? Life treating you well?” Miller asked with a smile.

Murphy let his head drop to the desk in front of him, messing up a small pile of folders as he sighed again, “Not really. I’m a fucking dick and the world is punishing me for it.”

“What happened, man?” Miller asked, setting his pen down and picking up his coffee mug. “You look like shit, by the way. You been sleeping?”

“No, not really, but I’m always tired, anyway, so it doesn’t matter. It’s like I just can’t stay awake. The past four nights I’ve been up til five in the morning helping with wedding stuff because it’s getting close and then I’ve got to be up by nine for interviews and viewings and I need a nap but I can’t just lie down in the middle of the road, much as I’d like to, because I’d die but I’m starting to wonder if that would be a bad thing,” Murphy told him, looking up.

“Alright, first, we’re getting you some coffee, and then maybe some therapy, but after that, I’m sending you down to the Batcave for a nap. You can see Bellamy first, cause he’ll probably be back soon, but then you’re going to sleep, no protests because I’ll knock you out and drag you down there, myself,” Miller threatened.

Murphy smiled, Miller was a nice guy. Even if he was threatening him he still cared. “Sure, if Monty’s cool with it.”

“Are you kidding? That guy fucking loves you. Honestly, I should be jealous, and I would be, if you weren’t taken,” Miller joked.

“Maybe you should be jealous, anyway. I’ll convince Bellamy to let us add Monty to our relationship and steal him away. I mean, he’s cute and smart and does slightly illegal things. I could learn to love him,” Murphy laughed.

“Yeah, well, he’s mine, so you can’t have him. Though, if we could steal you from Bellamy, we probably would.”

“I’m flattered, but I would never leave Bell, not even for you, hot as you may be.”

“You think I’m hot, you should see Monty naked. He looks tiny and fragile with clothes on, but fuck if he isn’t the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ll put that on my bucket list,” Murphy snorted. He flirted with Miller a lot. It wasn’t serious for either of them, not even close, but it was fun. They were both head over heels for the men they were with and they’d never leave them or steal anyone away from the other. It had started when Murphy had made an offhand comment about Miller’s ass and how it compared to his personality, and Miller had fired back a retort that had left Murphy speechless, which had hen turned into a bunch of mock flirting that just never ended. Bellamy had only rolled his eyes at them when he’d heard it before leaving to do his job.

“You really should. I’m sure he’d be glad to show you, might even let you touch him.”

“Are you calling him a slut?”

“Not directly. But also, it’s not like you’re just anyone. Besides Jasper, I think you’re his best friend, and Jasper doesn’t really count because the two are more like family than anything. Well, maybe not anything, because Jasper’s been in love with Monty since he was fifteen, but no one’s supposed to know about that.”

“That’s kinda shit. I feel bad for the dude.”

“It’s cool. He redirects it all into being the best friend to Monty that he can possibly be, so it’s not like he’s pining. He’ll be okay, so don’t worry about him,” Miller said with a shrug. “Now, coffee.”

“Yes, sir!” Murphy jumped up and gave a mock salute. He wandered over to the coffee maker and began to pour some into one of the paper cups. Originally, the cups had been Styrofoam, but Murphy had somehow managed to convince half the department that they should switch to paper because it was better for the environment and a week later, there were paper cups instead. Murphy had been proud of himself.

“We need to get you a mug or something,” Miller said when he returned, cup full of syrupy coffee that he took a long drink of, nearly scalding his tongue.

“That’d be nice,” Murphy said, taking a seat in his chair. “So, about how long til Bellamy gets back, you think?”

“I don’t know,” Miller shrugged, “Probably not long, though, he’s been gone since like, ten this morning.”

It was about four now, so that meant he’d been working on his case for several hours. Murphy hoped he could catch the guy, the whole case was stressing Bellamy out a lot.

“John Murphy, what a surprise to see you here.”

Murphy looked up to see Kane walking by.

“You keep hanging around here and I’m going to stick your ass in the police academy just so you have an actual reason to be around,” Kane grumbled. “You look like a lost puppy. It’s not conductive to our working environment.”

Murphy smiled, “Hey, aren’t you the guy that falsely arrested me?”

Kane simply glared at him and moved on, muttering under his breath.

Miller laughed and opened his desk drawer, “Here, have this.” He pulled out a shiny sticker that proclaimed, ‘Junior Detective.’ He stuck it on Murphy’s shirt.

“Now you look like you belong here.”

“Do I really?” Murphy fake gasped.

“Absolutely not,” Miller said with a grin. He liked having Murphy around, it made the place a little more tolerable when he was bored.

“Well, it was worth a shot. Maybe I can use this to get past security at the chemical plant. I know they’re dumping waste into the lake, I just can’t prove it, yet.”

Miler snorted and shook his head before jerking his head up, “Bellamy’s back.”

Murphy looked towards the entrance and his heart stuttered in his chest. Bellamy was back, alright, but he looked like utter hell. He had a black eye, a split lip, and a cut on his face that was still bleeding. He had a couple guys in cuffs and he and Monroe were taking them to the cage. Bellamy gave Murphy a smile as he passed him but it did nothing to calm Murphy’s fears. Sure, Bellamy was still standing, but he had gotten hurt and that was enough to put Murphy into a state of panic.

“He’ll be a little while,” Miller informed him, picking up his pen again. “He’ll have to give a report.”

“I’m gonna wait,” Murphy said as he stood up. He made his way to Bellamy’s desk and sat down in his chair, nervously picking at the edge of one of the many folders on the desk. Bellamy was fine, Murphy knew that, but seeing him hurt made his heart stop and all he wanted to do was to take care of him and make sure for himself that he was okay.

As soon as he saw Bellamy come back, he asked, “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Murph,” Bellamy smiled. “I caught the guy, the case is over.”

“That’s great. What about your face?”

Bellamy shrugged, “The guy had a knife and got in a lucky hit.”

“Looks like he got in more than one,” Murphy said dryly.

“Aren’t you supposed to be sympathetic?”

“Probably.”

“You're mean. Get out of my chair.”

Murphy stood up and let Bellamy have his chair back. “Did you get someone to check you out?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, yeah?” That was bullshit and Murphy knew it.

Bellamy sighed, “No.”

Murphy frowned, “Stay here.”

“Wouldn't be going anywhere else.”

Murphy left the room for a moment, leaving Bellamy to wonder what he was doing, but he got an answer when Murphy came back with a first aid kit in his hands. He’d asked Monroe where it was and she’d just given him a smirk as she pointed to it, knowing full well what Murphy intended on doing.

Murphy perched himself on Bellamy’s desk and opened the kit, pulling out supplies as Bellamy frowned up at him.

“No.”

“It’s me or you go to the hospital like you’re supposed to.”

“I don’t need stitches.”

“Then let me fix your face.”

“It’s fine.”

“You’re bleeding all over the place.”

“It’ll stop soon.”

“I’m fixing your face and you’re gonna sit there and take it or I’m never sleeping with you again.”

“You’ll last two days, max.”

“Fine. You’ll let me fix you or I’ll make you watch Mean Girls every night for three weeks.”

Bellamy rolled his eyes and sighed, resigning himself to whatever Murphy was going to do. “Fine, but I’m not an infant and I could have done it myself.”

“But you didn’t.” Murphy tore open a packet of gauze and drenched it in alcohol before pressing it to Bellamy’s face.

Bellamy hissed in pain and jerked back, “Fuck, Murphy.”

“Sorry. Come on, it’ll only hurt for a minute and then it’ll be over,” Murphy promised.

“Aw, Blake!” Miller snickered as he re-entered the room. “Did you get a babysitter?”

“No,” Bellamy glared at him. “Come on, Murphy, that’s enough.”

“Shh,” Murphy shushed him, pulling out a bandage to place over the cut. “I’m almost done.”

“Murphy-”

“Let him finish, Blake, it’s so sweet,” Miller teased, taking a seat at his desk and watching them with amusement.

Bellamy rolled his eyes, feeling stupid and embarrassed, “Shut up, Miller.”

Miller just laughed as Murphy smoothed down the bandage.

“How’s your lip?”

“It’ll be fine. Just hurts a little,” Bellamy told him. “Not so bad that I don’t want a kiss, though.”

Murphy grinned and leaned forward, taking Bellamy’s face in his hand and gently pressing their lips together, trying his best not to aggravate Bellamy’s cut. The kiss was chaste and sweet and Bellamy smiled when Murphy pulled back.

“I love you.”

“Love you, too,” Murphy told him. “So, the case is closed?”

“Just got to prosecute, but we’ve got more than enough evidence to get a guilty verdict. They’ll probably take a plea bargain, to save us the effort, but either way, they’re going away for a while.”

“Wanna give me an interview later?”

“Sure, but you have to wait until Kane clears it to release any information.”

“Always do.” Murphy covered a lot of the police’s cases, even though he didn’t really like crime. He figured it was something to do and the more views he got on his blog the more money he made from the ads which meant the more he could help Mbege with the bills. He liked feeling useful and even though Mbege’s shop and Craig’s teaching job brought in more than enough money to cover the bills, Murphy wanted to help out, especially with the wedding. Weddings were expensive.

“So, how was your day?” Bellamy asked, pulling out some paperwork so that he could begin getting his case wrapped up.

Murphy groaned loudly and ran a hand through his hair.

“No luck, then?”

“Nope. Either they aren't hiring, or they are, but they aren't hiring killers.”

“I'm sorry.” Bellamy winced, Murphy had told him to stop apologizing. “How about the apartment hunt?”

Murphy grabbed his folder from where he’d laid it on Bellamy’s desk, “These are my current options.”

Bellamy took the folder and flipped through the pages, raising his eyebrows at each one. “Well, you can’t live here, the crime rate is way too high. You’d get robbed at gunpoint before you could even move in.”

“It’s cheap, though, and there a nice view of some street art from the kitchen window.”

Bellamy just shook his head and laid the paper to the side before studying the second one, “This one’s falling apart, Murphy. The building will be condemned within the year.”

“Are you gonna find something wrong with every one of them?”

The answer seemed to be yes as Bellamy went through each of Murphy’s options, finding a different problem with each one.

“It’s too far from anywhere you frequent.”

“Shouldn’t you wait to see what job you get before deciding? You might be able to afford something better.”

“Actually, I think I solved a murder here once.”

“Okay, now you’re just reaching,” Murphy crossed his arms.

“No, seriously. I can look through my files,” Bellamy said as he turned to his computer.

“Uh-huh.”

As it turned out, Bellamy really had.

Murphy sighed. Bellamy had found something wrong with every one of his options. It was frustrating. Sure, they weren’t perfect, but it wasn’t like he could afford something better. If he had a job, maybe, but not right now. He needed a place of his own, a place to get away from the chaos that surrounded Mbege’s house. Yes, he loved them all dearly, but he needed an escape. Plus, he hated feeling like he was a third wheel. He wasn’t, he knew that, but it still felt like it sometimes and he wanted to give them both the privacy they deserved.

But Bellamy seemed to want to tear down every chance of having that that Murphy had found. “What’s your fucking problem, Bell? Those apartments are just fine. Why do you have to find something wrong with all of them instead of helping me figure out which one to pick?” He was so close to having a proper place to live, so close to rebuilding his life. He needed Bellamy to help with that, not make it harder.

Bellamy shrugged, “They just aren’t right for you. I want you to be safe and have a place where you’ll be happy. I don’t want you just to settle.”

“That’s absolute bullshit and you know it. What’s the real problem? Why can’t you just help me?” Murphy asked, frustrated.

Bellamy bit his lip, considering his next words. Now was his chance to ask Murphy to move in with him before he found another place. He probably wouldn’t get another chance. “I kinda want you to live with me?”

“What?” Murphy hadn’t expected that at all.

“I know it’s fast and I don’t want to rush you, so if you don’t want to do it, it’s completely fine but I wanted to offer, at least, because I love you and you’re always there anyway and I like being able to sleep next to you and I’d like to do it every night because waking up to you is the best feeling in the world. But I understand it’s fast and you don’t have to accept, it’s just an offer and I won’t be offended or anything if you don’t want to,” Bellamy rushed out before his nerves could get the better of him and force him to stay silent.

Murphy sat silently for a moment, processing what Bellamy was offering.

He could live with Bellamy. He could spend every day with him, more so than he already did, which Mbege said was too much, but being around him made Murphy feel better, less stressed, and loved. He wanted to see him everyday and this was his chance to do that. Plus, if he lived there, it’d be easier for them to have sex, which was a big bonus. He’d be able to wake up next to him every morning and give him a kiss before he went to work and it was everything he wanted. He just hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted it until it was offered. It was the perfect solution to his housing issue.

“You’re sure?” Murphy asked, wanting to be certain it was what Bellamy wanted. “You’re not going to get tired of seeing me every day?”

“I’m absolutely sure, and I could never get tired of seeing you. I love you and being able to see you daily would be a dream come true. I’d get to make you dinner and fall asleep next to you and kiss you good morning.” He’d get all the little mundane things, too, like brushing his teeth next to Murphy and splitting chores and arguing over tv channels. “I want you to move in with me.”

“Okay,” Murphy nodded. “When?”

“Tonight? I can leave early since my case is over and we can pick up your stuff and spend the evening getting you settled in.”

“I’ll text Mbege.” He probably wouldn’t be overjoyed, but he’d started to accept their relationship and he’d stop making comments about it, so he probably wouldn’t make a fuss about it.

Bellamy smiled and stood up. “I’ll tell Kane. I’ll meet you at the car.” He gave Murphy a quick kiss and grabbed his jacket.

Murphy was happy to live with Bellamy. Sure, it was fast, but he was already spending most nights there and well, slow wasn’t how he operated, so it would be fine. Besides, he’d never loved anyone as much as he did Bellamy, so he was alright with going as fast as necessary. He’d already decided he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him, if Bellamy would let him, so it wasn’t like it was a new decision. Yeah, living with Bellamy was what he wanted.

._-*-_.

Bellamy furrowed his brow. They’d gotten Murphy unpacked and eaten supper, pizza from Sienna’s, but then Murphy had disappeared to the bedroom and hadn’t come out yet. At first, Bellamy had thought he was changing into pajamas or something because it was getting a little late, but the longer he stayed in there the more worried and confused Bellamy got. It had only been about ten minutes, but still, he’d thought he and Murphy could watch tv and he’d get a chance to hold him close, but maybe Murphy was tired and had gone to bed.

Bellamy stood up and stretched, deciding that he was going to see what was taking so long, just in case something was wrong.

The second he pushed the door to the bedroom open, his eyes widened and stood there in shock for a moment.

Murphy raised an eyebrow at him, “Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting for you to get your ass in here for the past five minutes. I thought you’d be smart enough to figure out I meant for you to follow me.”

Bellamy wasn’t able to process the insult, much less give a retort.

Murphy stood there in a tight black top and a short, pale pink skirt that had Bellamy ready to tear it off of him, but he remembered Murphy’s warning not to rip it, so instead he crossed the room, saying nothing as he put a hand on Murphy’s neck and pulled him into a bruising kiss.

Murphy smiled into it. Bellamy hadn’t said anything, so he’d been afraid that maybe he’d only been joking about wanting Murphy to wear a skirt for him, but it seemed he’d been serious, which was good, because Murphy would have hated to feel like a fool for doing it.

He wrapped his arms around Bellamy, pulling him close and pressing against him, grinding his hips into him and making Bellamy moan softly. Bellamy ran a hand up Murphy’s thigh, slipping it under his skirt and making his way to his hip where his hand came in contact with lace. Realizing what that meant, Bellamy groaned, tracing the outline of Murphy’s lips with his tongue before biting down on Murphy’s bottom lip as he felt himself harden. He slipped his tongue past Murphy’s lips and swirled it around Murphy’s before beginning to map out his mouth, making him moan as Bellamy backed him towards the bed.

He ran a thumb over the waistband of Murphy’s panties before shoving him gently onto the bed, breaking the kiss for a moment so he could straddle him but then his lips were on Murphy’s again and his hands were on his hips and pushing his shirt up so he could take it off of him. Murphy raised up to allow it and moaned as Bellamy took one of his nipples into his mouth, twisting his tongue around it and biting down gently before licking at it again, Murphy’s hand tangling in his hair, the other one draped across his shoulder.

Bellamy took his time, making Murphy writhe underneath him as he toyed with his nipples, Murphy grinding his hips into Bellamy’s, almost begging for more friction. He wanted Bellamy to get on with it, to fuck him already because he was hard and leaking and the lace kept rubbing against his cock and it was driving him insane, but Bellamy seemed intent on taking his time.

“Bellamy, please,” Murphy whimpered, bucking his hips and trying to get Bellamy to do anything that would help him get some relief.

Bellamy only smirked and began to press kisses against Murphy’s neck, making him arch into the touch and tighten his grip on Bellamy’s curls. Bellamy ran his hands down Murphy’s sides, stopping at his hips and pulling Murphy against him as he ground into him, Murphy moaning and writhing underneath him.

“God, baby, so pretty. You look so cute, like some kind of princess, you know that? I just want to slip my hand up your skirt and make you come in your panties,” Bellamy whispered before biting down on Murphy’s neck and sucking a mark. He continued down his shoulder and chest, trailing kisses across his skin and leaving marks behind until he got to the waistband of Murphy’s skirt. He ran his hand along it, trying to figure out how to take it off for a second until he came to the zipper on the side. He grinned up at Murphy as he unzipped it and pulled it down, sliding it off and turning back to Murphy.

Murphy looked down at Bellamy, his cock hard and leaking precum onto the white lace of his panties. Bellamy licked his lips and gave Murphy a smirk before pressing a kiss to the tip of his cock, mouthing at it through the lace as Murphy squirmed beneath him, moaning and whimpering.

“You sound so pretty, baby. You’re so hot when you’re desperate, when you just can’t help yourself, when you need me so bad you’d do anything to get off,” Bellamy said as he hooked his fingers under the waistband of Murphy’s panties. “You look so good in these, baby. All this lace covering your cock. You should wear them more often. I want you to get all dressed up to go out just so I can take it off you later.”

Murphy watched with anticipation as Bellamy began pulling down the panties, freeing Murphy’s cock. He let out a whine, “Bell, I need you. Will you please, please just fuck me? _Please!”_

Bellamy shook his head, “Not yet, baby. Wanna make you feel good first. Gonna make you come just from my tongue. Turn over, baby.” He got off the bed, trailing his hands down Murphy’s legs as he did.

Murphy swallowed hard when he realized what Bellamy was going to do. He rolled over and pulled his knees up for him, spreading his legs so Bellamy would have easier access.

Bellamy quickly rid himself of his clothes, his erection springing free. He stroked himself a few times as he took in the sight of Murphy on all fours, ready for him and practically begging to be fucked.

“Good, baby. Now let me make you feel good. You can come whenever you want, okay? Just let go, you don’t have to ask permission tonight,” Bellamy said as he ran a hand over Murphy’s ass. “Such a pretty boy. I’m so lucky to have you, you know that, right? I wanna show you how much you mean to me tonight, it’s just about you. You make me so weak, baby, I’d do anything for you.”

Murphy felt butterflies in his stomach that weren’t from the anticipation of what was to come. Bellamy was being too sweet, he was making this much more dramatic than it needed to be, but Murphy wasn’t about to tell him to stop. As much as he loved Bellamy being rough, he liked when he got sweet and caring just as much. Every time Bellamy said something like that to him, he got the same butterflies he’d felt when Bellamy had first told him he loved him. It didn’t matter how often he said it, either, the feeling was always there.

Bellamy quickly went to the nightstand, grabbing the lube they kept there. This one was flavored like strawberries and he had to admit it wasn’t bad. Better than the taste of regular lube, which he’d used once for this purpose and decided that was never happening again.

“ _Bell!_ ” Murphy whimpered as Bellamy got back on the bed and began kissing his shoulders before going lower, pressing kisses down Murphy’s spine as Murphy closed his eyes, biting his lip to keep from letting loose all the horribly mushy things he wanted to say.

Bellamy popped the cap of the lube and squeezed a little bit out. “I love you, baby,” Bellamy said as he got adjusted. He nipped at the cheek of Murphy’s ass, Murphy letting his head drop to the bed, resting his forehead against the bedspread. He put the lube on Murphy’s ass, pressing his finger in just a little bit, enough to make Murphy buck down on it.

Bellamy wasted no time teasing Murphy, this wasn’t about that, this was about making him feel as good as he possibly could until he came so that Bellamy could make him do it all over again until Murphy knew how much he really loved him, how lucky he was to have him for his own. He wanted to treat Murphy like the princess he obviously was, and those panties had only been an excuse for the thing he’d been wanting to do for so long and now, on Murphy’s first night living with Bellamy, he finally got a chance to do it.

He licked a stripe across Murphy’s hole, Murphy shuddering beneath him. He did it another time before pressing the tip of his tongue inside him, just enough to make him buck his hips back.

“God, Bell!” he said, letting out a broken moan. He was so hard that he was leaking against his stomach and the feeling of Bellamy’s tongue was only making him more desperate. He knew what Bellamy was going to do but he wasn’t sure he could take it. He always came when Bellamy ate him out, he couldn’t help it. But he had permission to this time, which was new. He was used to Bellamy making him beg for release as he teased him relentlessly, but he wasn’t about to complain.

Bellamy licked at the ring of muscle, Murphy mewling and gripping the sheets in his fists. Bellamy slowly pressed his tongue inside Murphy as far as he could before pulling it out and going back to licking at him before thrusting his tongue into him a few times, making Murphy keen beneath him.

Bellamy loved having him like this, on all fours, mewling and sounding so wrecked, so desperate as Bellamy pleased him. He’d always wanted to see the faces he made when Bellamy did this to him, he was sure they’d be adorable. He thrust his tongue inside of him until Murphy keened again and let out a string of curses that made Bellamy smirk.

He opened the lube once more and squeezed some out onto his fingers before slipping one inside Murphy alongside his tongue, Murphy shaking and panting as he bucked down on it, trying to get Bellamy to go deeper.

“More, please, Bell!” he begged.

Bellamy obliged, adding a second finger and thrusting his tongue between them as he stretched Murphy.

“Fuck, Bell, I’m close. God, Bell, f-fuck! I need you, Bell, w-want you inside of me,” Murphy panted, his voice breaking.

“Not yet, baby, but soon. I’m gonna make you come and then I’m gonna fuck you, get you off twice because you’re so pretty, so perfect, baby. I wanna make you feel so good,” Bellamy told him, adding a third finger and thrusting them faster. He went back to licking at Murphy’s entrance as he fucked him with his fingers, crooking them and searching for his prostate. When he found it, Murphy let out a loud cry of “Bellamy!” that went straight to Bellamy’s dick.

He scissored his fingers as he thrust them, hitting that spot each time and before he knew it, Murphy was letting out half formed curses and mangled words that Bellamy took as a warning that he was close. He thrust his tongue back in along with his fingers and within seconds, Murphy came onto the bedspread before slumping forward, panting as Bellamy removed his fingers.

He turned over and looked up at Bellamy, blissed out and spent. “Just give me a minute and you can fuck me. I mean, you could do it now, but it’s gonna be a minute before I can come again.”

Bellamy smiled at him, “I can wait.” If he fucked him now, Murphy would be too overstimulated and it would hurt him and as much as he knew Murphy liked that, he wasn’t going to do it to him tonight. Tonight, he wanted him to feel nothing but pleasure. He wanted him to feel loved and special because he was. He was everything to Bellamy and Bellamy wanted to show it.

Murphy smiled at him and reached out, trying to pull him closer, “Come here.”

Bellamy did as asked and moved further up on the bed so he was within arm’s reach of Murphy. He tucked a strand of hair behind Murphy’s ear and touched his cheek for a second before pulling him in for a kiss.

It was slow and gentle and Murphy melted into it. He didn’t swoon much, but every time Bellamy was sweet with him, he couldn’t help it. Nothing made him feel more loved than Bellamy’s hands on him, gently caressing him and pulling him close.

Bellamy reached out, taking Murphy’s hip in his hand and pulled him against him, his own erection in desperate need of attention but he ignored it in favor of kissing Murphy again, running his tongue across his bottom lip and pressing their tongues together when Murphy opened his mouth. Murphy wrapped his tongue around Bellamy’s and sucked it into his mouth, letting his hand wander between them, finding Bellamy’s cock and taking it into his hand.

Bellamy moaned into the kiss when he felt Murphy’s hand around him, slowly stroking him, not enough to get him off but enough to give him some relief. Murphy smirked into the kiss, running his thumb across the head and down to the bundle of nerves on the underside of it, Bellamy unable to stop from bucking his hips into it, wanting more.

He tangled his hand in Murphy’s hair and broke the kiss to press another one to the side of Murphy’s mouth telling him, “You don’t know what you do to me, baby,” before trailing kisses across his jaw and down to his neck where he began to suck marks, Murphy squirming and gasping when he felt Bellamy’s teeth against his skin.

“Bell,” he moaned, letting go of Bellamy’s dick. “Bell, I want you to fuck me now.”

“You ready?” Bellamy asked, pulling back.

Murphy nodded, hard again and wanting nothing more than to have Bellamy inside of him, filling him up and making him feel good like he always did. “Please, I want you in me, Bell. I need you.”

Bellamy smirked and pressed one more kiss to Murphy’s neck before guiding him to lay on his back, untangling his hand from Murphy’s hair and searching for the bottle of lube behind him.

Once he found it he pulled away completely, Murphy whining and reaching out for him again.

“Give me a second, baby. I can’t fuck you like this,” Bellamy told him. “Spread your legs for me, princess.”

Murphy smirked at the pet name and did as he was told, putting himself on display for Bellamy, his dick hard against his stomach and his lips red and wet from the kiss and Bellamy smiled as he ran his fingers across Murphy’s skin, thinking him the most beautiful man he’d ever seen.

“God, baby, you’re so pretty. I just want to make you come over and over until you can’t anymore. Until you’re so fucked out and spent that you can’t take it anymore. I want to make you feel so good, baby,” Bellamy told him as he settled in between Murphy’s thighs, running his fingers across his hips and down his legs, making Murphy shiver beneath him. He wanted to spend all day worshipping Murphy’s body, making him feel amazing and showing him how much he loved him. Just keep him in bed all day, fucking him and sucking him off and touching him, kissing him everywhere and driving him crazy. He wanted to make Murphy feel as good as Murphy made him feel every day.

“Would you please fuck me already? I want you so bad, Bell, I _need_ you, so please, _please_ just get on with it. I love you but for fuck’s sake if you don’t put your dick inside me now I’m gonna kick your ass,” Murphy groaned, frustrated. It wasn’t that he didn’t love this, he did, more than he’d ever admit, but he needed Bellamy, wanted him so badly, and if Bellamy kept dragging it out, Murphy was just going to shove him down and fuck himself, which actually sounded like a pretty good idea, but before he could act on it, Bellamy smirked at him.

“So needy. I love you like this, all desperate and ready for me. Makes me wanna fuck you until you can’t move in the morning,” he told him, opening the lube and slicking himself up.

“Then fucking do it,” Murphy growled, trying to get Bellamy to hurry up. “Because if you don’t fuck me soon, I’m gonna flip us over and tie _you_ to the bed so I can ride you as hard as I want.”

“Maybe later, baby, cause tonight I’m gonna be gentle with you, treat you like a princess. Make you come undone under me and leave marks all over you so everyone knows you’re mine.” Well, he’d already done that part, the marks he’d left on Murphy were already turning red and purple and he was quite proud of them. There was no hiding them tomorrow, not that Murphy really ever tried to hide them, so the whole world would know he was taken. That he was Bellamy’s.

He lined himself up before Murphy could threaten him again and pressed in slowly, Murphy letting out a loud moan at the feeling of being filled. “See, baby, you just gotta have some patience sometimes.”

“Patience is b-bullshit,” Murphy said followed by a broken moan as Bellamy began thrusting into him. Murphy rocked his hips in time with the slow thrusts, not even bothering to stop his moans and mewls because he knew how much Bellamy liked hearing him.

“Shh, baby. Just relax, okay? Let me take care of you, let me make you feel good,” Bellamy whispered, speeding up just a bit once he knew Murphy was well adjusted and he wasn’t going to hurt him any.

“Like a princess, yeah, yeah, I g-got that. Does that mean I can make d-demands?” Murphy asked, trying to steady his breathing so the words were understandable.

“Like _my_ princess. And I’ll give you anything you want, Murphy, all you gotta do is ask,” Bellamy promised.

“I want you to kiss me,” Murphy requested, trying to sit up a little bit so he could reach out for Bellamy.

Bellamy grinned and nodded, wrapping Murphy’s legs around him and leaning forward so he was pressed against him so close that he couldn’t quite tell where he began and Murphy ended. He captured Murphy’s lips in a passionate, sweet kiss that Murphy sighed into, feeling more loved than he ever had before.

Bellamy thrust into him, keeping a steady pace as he rubbed circles into Murphy’s hip, his other hand on Murphy’s neck as he kissed him, only breaking it to take a breath before their lips met again.

The whole thing was slow and sweet and so loving that Murphy thought he might melt into the bed if Bellamy didn’t stop, but he just kept on, kissing him and fucking him so gently, like he was trying to pour every bit of love he had into the act and Murphy was overwhelmed by it all. It wasn’t even about the fucking this time, or getting off, it was just about Bellamy and being close to him and being loved by him and it was all too much, and Murphy wasn’t sure how to handle it all.

He wrapped his arms around Bellamy, pulling him impossibly close and licking at his lips, tracing them with his tongue as Bellamy groaned softly. Murphy closed his eyes and gave in to the feeling of being cared for, it was so sweet and perfect that he was sure he was going to break under the weight of it. He took a deep breath when the kiss broke and blinked away tears, trying his hardest not to cry but it was all so much. He’d never felt that kind of love before, never thought he deserved it, but here was Bellamy, giving it to him without a second thought and he didn’t know what to do with it except take it and try to hold himself together.

Bellamy sped up his thrusts, making Murphy drop his head back and let out a moan so loud Bellamy was sure his neighbors were going to complain, but he didn’t care. He kissed Murphy on the cheek before lowering his head to his neck and kissing every inch of skin he could, dusting his shoulders with featherlight kisses that had Murphy shaking beneath him as he clung to him and came apart.

“B-bell, I’m gonna-” Murphy broke off with a moan as Bellamy took his dick into his hand, stroking him in time with his thrusts. “Fuck, Bell!”

“It’s okay, baby, I’ve got you. Come for me, princess,” Bellamy whispered in his ear before pressing another kiss to his lips.

Murphy lasted only a few seconds longer, coming with Bellamy’s name on his lips but it was swallowed by another kiss as Bellamy followed after him, spilling into him and fucking him through his orgasm, Murphy gripping Bellamy so tight his fingernails left marks behind.

When it was over, Murphy held him there for a few more moments, not wanting to let go, but then his grip loosened and Bellamy pulled out, falling to the side, panting. He laid there for a moment, catching his breath before pulling Murphy close again and holding him tightly.

Murphy curled up against him and buried his face in his neck as tears began to fall, overwhelmed by the flood of emotions he felt. He’d never felt so safe and loved as he did when he was in Bellamy’s arms and even though he felt stupid and overdramatic, he couldn’t stop himself from crying, shaking in Bellamy’s arms.

“Hey, Murphy, what’s wrong, baby?” Bellamy asked, concerned. Had he hurt him? Did he do something wrong? Had Murphy wanted him to stop and he hadn’t? Fear set in at the thought of hurting the man he loved so much and Bellamy pulled back to look at him.

Murphy just shook his head and sniffled, not wanting to admit to being as big of a baby as he was.

“No, come on, Murph, tell me. What’s wrong, babe?” Bellamy didn’t let up. He needed to know what was wrong with Murphy so he could make sure it never happened again.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Murphy sniffled. “It’s nothing, Bell, I’m just being a baby.”

“Tell me, babe, let me fix it.”

Murphy took a shuddery breath, “There’s nothing to fix. I’m fine, really.”

“Then why are you crying?” Bellamy asked, bringing up a hand to wipe away Murphy’s tears.

“Because- Fuck, because I love you. Because you make me feel more loved than anyone ever has, romantically, at least, and I don’t know what to do with it. I spent so long believing I didn’t deserve it, that I’d never get it, and now I’ve got you and you’re so sweet and perfect and you love me and I don’t know how to handle it, but I love you. God, Bell, I love you so much,” Murphy told him, looking up at him and waiting for Bellamy to call him a baby, tell him he was being overdramatic, because he was, he really was, but he couldn’t help it.

But all Bellamy did was lean in to kiss him, gentle and slow and so sweet that Murphy couldn’t help the tears that fell. He wanted to stay in that moment forever, just exist there with Bellamy, in his arms because he never wanted to leave them. He’d never felt safer anywhere than he did right there.

“I love you, too, Murphy,” Bellamy said quietly after the kiss broke. He loved Murphy more than anything and he’d never, ever let him get hurt again. He’d die first.

Murphy gave him a shaky smile and laid his head on his shoulder, closing his eyes and trying to stop the tears. There was no reason to cry. He wasn’t hurt. In fact, he was happier than he’d ever been. Sure, it wasn’t the life he’d had before, but if he was honest with himself, and he liked to be, this life was much better. Bellamy was more than he’d ever dreamed he could have. He was everything he wanted and more.

Bellamy wiped away the last of Murphy’s tears and held him close until his breathing evened out and he knew he was asleep. He gently untangled himself from him and stood up, going to the bathroom to get a rag so he could clean him up. He came back and smiled at the sight of Murphy asleep on his bed. _Their_ bed.

He cleaned him up quickly, Murphy cracking his eyes and mumbling something, but Bellamy just shushed him and turned out the light before carefully shifting Murphy so that he could cover them up. He slipped under the covers with him and pulled him to his chest again, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“I love you. I’m never gonna stop loving you,” he whispered. “It’s you forever, Murphy. Just you.”

There was no one he’d rather spend his life with than Murphy. Fate had a twisted way of starting their story, but he was going to make damn sure it was good from here on out. He was never going to let anything hurt him. Nothing would ever make him stop loving him. This was it. This was his happy ending, right here with Murphy and he was going to spend every moment he had with him trying to make him as happy as he possibly could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm assholemurphy on tumblr and I take prompts for just abt any ship. (Minus Bellarke and Kabby.) Next chapter hopefully up by Wed. I've got a shit ton of stuff to do next week, tho, so I'm not sure if that'll work out, but I'm gonna start writing the next chapter of this as soon as I get the next chap of TAL written which I will probs start tonight/tomorrow. And if I manage to get both chaps done before Wed (which I'm gonna shoot for), then I'll write some Wellphy shit bc I need some Wells in my life. I love that boy.
> 
> Until next time, cats!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is late af, but I've been distracted. Life is complex and I've had a lot to do so when I get time I'm too tired to write, no matter how much I want to. Also, I'm thinking of moving my scheduled update day to Sun, so I'm not rushing to finish two chapters of different stories by Wed.
> 
> I'm also considering starting a new story or two, bc I've got two fully plotted, btu that would mean I'd have to move from a real schedule to a 'as I have insp' schedule, which means idk when I'd update, so I'm trying to like, not do that. But I do want to write some stuff for my Promised Land series, so that'll probs happen soon bc I need some happy Monty (who isn't with Harper bc I just don't ship it??? I love Harper a lot, but just, not with Monty. Idk). So I need to write some for that soon.
> 
> Anyway, this chap feels rushed af but idk what to do abt it bc like, the words won't do what I want them to. They just won't. So, hopefully the next chap will be better.

Murphy groaned as he looked in the cabinet above the coffee maker. There was sugar, sure, but the creamer was missing. Usually, he either got coffee after Bellamy dropped him off at Mbege’s or he just toughed it out until he could get to a coffee shop, but last night he and Bellamy had stayed up past three watching Firefly, which they still hadn’t finished, which had been a crime, but Bellamy did have work, so they’d decided to let it wait until later, so he wouldn’t have to go in with no sleep.

“What?” Bellamy asked, blinking slowly and trying to figure out why Murphy was glaring at his coffee maker. Surely, it couldn’t have done anything wrong, and there was still plenty in the pot, so it was beyond him as to why Murphy was so upset at his kitchen appliances.

“No creamer, Bell. You and your shitty coffee palette have left me with no choice but to die,” Murphy sighed, pouring an ungodly amount of sugar into his coffee. By the time he was done, it really did look like syrup, but it still wasn’t enough to get rid of the bitterness.

“I don’t use creamer. You’ve never complained before,” Bellamy said, rubbing at his eyes and trying to think if Murphy actually had complained before. He couldn’t remember, but, then again, he couldn’t remember his own badge number right now, so he could be wrong.

“I’ve complained the last five times I’ve made coffee at your place.” Usually, it didn’t matter, because he didn’t really live there, but now that he did, he had the right to complain a little bit.

“Have you?” Bellamy yawned, taking a sip of his own coffee. He didn’t understand why Murphy cared about creamer, the coffee tasted just fine without it. Or it would, if Murphy hadn’t put what looked like a third of a bag of sugar in it.

Murphy scoffed and took a sip of his own, nearly gagging but choking it down because he had plans with Drew at noon, so he had to do something. Maybe he should just go back to bed for another couple of hours instead.

“Sorry, babe,” Bellamy told him, reaching out as Murphy walked by. He pulled him into his lap and rested his head against his back. “We’ll get some today.”

Murphy nodded, placated. He was too tired to really care, anyway. He wondered when he’d gone from being able to pull two all nighters in a row to being tired after getting four hours of sleep. He was either getting old or getting too used to sleep, both possibilities scared him. “Fine. But tonight we’re starting Firefly after you get off work so we can at least finish three episodes and still get some sleep.”

“I’m surprised you stayed awake through it. Usually you pass out halfway through a movie.”

“That would be a criminal offense and I’d have to ask you to arrest me,” Murphy told him seriously.

Bellamy laughed and shook his head, “Go back to bed, Murph. You can get a few more hours of sleep.”

“I wanted to write,” Murphy whined.

“You really think you can write while this tired?”

“Sure. It’ll take me eight hours of editing while I basically rewrite it later, but I could at least pretend to do it,” Murphy shrugged. Bellamy was right, though, and if he went back to bed it meant he didn’t need the monstrosity Bellamy called coffee.

“Go to sleep, babe,” Bellamy prompted. “Then when I get back from work, we’ll go shopping and you won’t have to worry about drinking my toxically masculine coffee.”

Murphy smiled, “You remember that?”

“Yeah,” Bellamy laughed. He remembered all of it. It was just about all he’d thought about the two years that he’d been without Murphy. “I’ve never been insulted because of my preference in coffee before.”

“Well, to be fair, you did have the whole alpha male thing going on, so I just figured it played into that.”

Bellamy laughed, “Do I not still have that?”

“No, you do. It’s just that now it’s attractive instead of annoying,” Murphy told him, standing up and walking to pour his coffee down the sink.

“Is it really?” Bellamy asked, grinning as he drank the last of his and came up behind Murphy, setting his cup down and wrapping his arms around him.

“A little bit. Forgive me if I’m a stereotype that’s attracted to other stereotypes,” Murphy laughed, turning around and putting his hands on Bellamy’s chest. “Going to work now?”

“Yeah, I’ve got just enough time to drive there and clock in before Kane hits me with an office chair for being half a second late,” Bellamy told him, smiling.

“Sounds fun,” Murphy snorted.

Bellamy shrugged and leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to Murphy’s lips and tightening his arms around him as he pulled him closer. If he had his way he’d stay like this forever, holding Murphy against him and just existing with him, but unfortunately, he had work, so he let him go and pulled back, kissing him on the nose before letting him go. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Do you have a grocery list?” Murphy asked.

“Yeah, but you should make one of the things you need. You want to come by the station or do you want me to pick you up at Mbege’s?”

“I’ll come by. It’ll be easier.”

Bellamy nodded, “Alright. See you then, babe. I love you.”

“Love you, too,” Murphy smiled, wishing he could pull Bellamy in for another kiss and keep him there all day. But, he needed sleep and Bellamy needed to get to work, so he let him go, watching as he grabbed his jacket and left before yawning and retreating to the bedroom to get a few more hours of rest.

._-*-_.

“Reese’s Puffs?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“That’ll rot your teeth.”

“That’s why God invented toothpaste, Bell,” Murphy shrugged, putting the box in the basket.

Bellamy snorted and shook his head. Of course, Murphy would be one for sugary, rot your teeth kind of cereal. It just fit. Bellamy grabbed a box of Honey Nut Cheerios and put it in the basket beside the Puffs. “You’re going to go into a diabetic coma one day with all the sugar you eat.”

“Probably, but it will have been well worth it,” Murphy grinned, grabbing a box of Poptarts.

“No more sugar,” Bellamy sighed, exasperated. The basket was half sugar by now and he wasn’t really sure how that had happened.

“Come on, it’s only like 40 grams a package. It’s nothing.”

Bellamy raised and eyebrow but gave in, sighing, “Fine. But we’re buying vegetables, too.”

“Sure, thing, Detective,” Murphy said with a mock salute.

Bellamy rolled his eyes and turned to look at the row of peanut butter and jelly jars.

Murphy smirked and made a grab for a bottle of chocolate syrup, carefully sticking it in the basket while Bellamy’s back was turned so he wouldn’t notice. Murphy had plans for that later. He would have just asked Bellamy, but he wanted to see just how much he could get away with before Bellamy noticed.

Half an hour and several items later, Murphy was getting a little restless. He’d stuck strawberries, whipped cream, some popsicles, and a couple other flavored syrups in the basket, but Bellamy hadn’t noticed. He needed to get more creative. They’d been almost finished, hence the frozen foods, when Bellamy had remembered he’d forgotten some spices and they’d had to make a quick run through a different isle. Murphy bit his lip, holding in a snicker, as he set a can in the top part of the basket and waited for Bellamy to notice.

Bellamy raised and eyebrow as he set the spice packets and bottles he’d chosen in the cart, looking at Murphy, “A can of water chestnuts?”

“Oh, so you _are_ paying attention,” Murphy grinned.

“I might be, yes,” Bellamy returned the grin, coming up to Murphy and looping his fingers through his belt loop and pulling him in. “All that syrup and you didn’t even bother to get ice cream.”

“I got popsicles?”

“I don’t think that counts.”

“Well, maybe I had a different idea in mind…” Murphy trailed off, bringing his hands up to Bellamy’s chest. “Cause I can think of several other things that you can use chocolate syrup for. That okay?”

“I’m not going to complain,” Bellamy told him. “As long as you clean up any mess you make.”

“That’s the plan,” Murphy told him, tilting his head up and pressing a kiss to Bellamy’s lips. He didn’t try to deepen it, they were in public, after all, but he stayed there for a few seconds longer than he should have before pulling back. “We done?”

“Yeah, I think so. You got everything you need?” Bellamy asked.

“I’ve got you,” Murphy smiled.

“And _I’m_ the sappy one?” Bellamy laughed.

“Some sap is okay on occasion,” Murphy shrugged. “Let’s go. I want to eat.”

“What do you want?” Bellamy asked, pulling away and grabbing the cart.

“I don’t care, really. Something fast, though, because I want to get to dessert as quickly as possible.”

Bellamy just chuckled and shook his head as Murphy came to stand beside him, slipping his hand in Bellamy’s back pocket, his own show of possessiveness. “I’ll be sure to cook as quickly as I can.”

“Just don’t burn it. Again.”

._-*-_.

“Any chance we can just ditch and they’ll be too absorbed in the cake that they won’t notice us being gone?”

“Nope,” Bellamy said, unbuckling his seatbelt. “Come on, maybe it won’t be that bad.”

“It’ll be worse, I know it will,” Murphy sighed, getting out of the car. He knew that no matter how this went, he wasn’t going to like it.

Mbege and Craig had invited them to a cake tasting, completely optional, but Murphy knew better. If he and Bellamy skipped out on this, he’d never hear the end of it. He just didn’t know what they wanted or why they’d asked them to come. As far as Murphy knew, they were avoiding all mention of Bellamy and his relationship and hoping it went away before they had to deal with it. So, inviting them to a cake tasting was the complete opposite of what Murphy had come to expect from them. They’d claimed they wanted second opinions, but Murphy didn’t buy it for a second.

“No, it won’t,” Bellamy assured him, wrapping an arm around his waist and walking him to the door of the bakery. Once inside, he guided him to the table where Mbege and Craig already sat, looking over a menu of flavor choices like they hadn’t already decided on what ones they wanted to try. He supposed it was so he and Murphy didn’t know they’d been watching them from the second they’d pulled up outside.

“Hey,” Craig smiled at Murphy when they sat down.

Murphy managed a weak smile in return as Mbege nodded at Bellamy.

“So, how are you two?” Mbege asked and suddenly Murphy understood why they were here.

They were about to be grilled on their relationship. Why, only God knew, but Murphy was even less happy now than he’d been when he’d gotten the invitation. His relationship was none of their business, not if all they were going to do was judge it.

“We’re alright,” Bellamy told him with a polite smile. “And you two? How’s the wedding planning going?”

Craig groaned and dropped his head to the table. Mbege sighed and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as he started to sniffle.

Bellamy blinked at them, afraid he’d said something wrong, but before he could apologize Mbege spoke.

“It’s going fine. This overdramatic asshole is being, well, overdramatic.”

“I am not!” Craig interjected without looking up.

“Yes, you are,” Mbege scowled at him for a moment before turning his attention back to Bellamy. “It’s going fine. We’ve got the invitations sent and party favors finished, all that’s left is flowers, the dress, and the cake. Which is why we’ve been so kind as to let you keep Murphy to yourself.”

That last part was said with a little bit of venom, but Murphy just snorted and shook his head. “Please, I gave you countless hours of my time, I’m allowed to spend a few days settling in to my boyfriend’s house.”

“A few days?” Mbege raised his eyebrows. “Murphy, it’s been almost three _weeks._ I think you’re about as settled as you’re going to get.”

Murphy opened his mouth to argue but he was cut off when a blur of shopping bags and bright yellow came through the door, drawing everyone’s attention. Even Craig raised his head to look up, only to groan again upon seeing who it was and let his head drop back onto the table with an audible thud.

“Ow,” he muttered as the blur came closer to the table, out of breath and rambling.

“I got stuck in traffic so I ditched the cab which wouldn’t have mattered, but I stopped by a couple stores on the way here and I lost track of time but I did find a really great tie for Murphy, it’s got the bisexual pride flag colors on it. Honestly, it should be tacky, but it’s actually quite tasteful, really, at least, I think so. And then I forgot the address and looked around for this place but I was two blocks past it, so I had to backtrack and there was a nice little café there, so I bought coffee for us, since I wasn’t sure if this place had any. I got everybody their usual,” Drew rambled, dealing out coffees and smiling the whole time. “Here, Bellamy. Murphy says you take it black, which I would like to formally apologize to your taste buds, since you won’t, but I do hope the roast is okay. I can’t really pronounce the name of it, but the barista assured me it was bold and powerful, which I thought was fitting for a cop but if you don’t like it I can always go back and get you-”

“Drew!” Murphy snapped, making everyone stare at him as Drew’s rambling came to a stop.

“Yeah, Murph?”

“Breathe, bitch, breathe. You’re going to asphyxiate if you don’t take a couple breaths between sentences, man,” Murphy told him, looking concerned and amused.

Drew gave him a lopsided smile and motioned for him to scoot in so he could sit. Bellamy scooted around in the booth, coming to a stop near Craig who just gave him a raised eyebrow before propping his head up on his hands and looking overwhelmed. Drew sat his bags at the end of the table and slid in, rolling up the sleeves of his bright yellow button down and resting his sunglasses on top of his head. Murphy had to admit, with the white pants he was wearing, he either looked like a model or a very fashion challenged mongoose, he wasn’t sure which, but either way, it was fine. He’d seen Drew in worse. As long as he wasn’t wearing socks with sandals, they were okay.

“What are you doing here?” Craig sighed, looking like he wanted to stab himself with a fork. Luckily, there weren’t any on the table just yet, so he couldn’t.

“I came to taste cake and chat about life, little bro. What are _you_ doing here?”

“I’m here to hopefully decide on a fucking cake that pleases everybody and looks good enough that Mom can’t say shit about it,” Craig informed him.

Drew winced, “Yeah, about Mom, bro-”

“She’s not coming, is she?” Craig asked, looking even worse than he had a few seconds ago.

“I’m afraid not. Something about the business and clerical errors and audits, I don’t know, I didn’t really listen because we all know the real reason she’s not coming, anyway,” Drew scowled. He didn’t like their mother. Craig was always seeking her approval, but he didn’t care. She could go fuck herself, especially with all the shit she’d put Craig through since finding out about the wedding.

“Right. Should have known. What about Dad? Is he coming?”

“Considering Mom’s still paying for his house despite the divorce? I doubt he has the balls to piss her off. It would mean he had to get a job for once,” Drew spat. Their dad was a spineless jackass who was too afraid of their mother to ever stand up to her. The divorce had been her idea, because she’d wanted to appear more independent. Or because she wanted to fuck the pool boy without consequences like the fucking cliché she was. Drew was never sure which.

Craig sighed, “Fuck.”

“I’m sorry, baby bro. But we don’t need them, anyway. Aunt Margret’s coming and so are the twins. Henry and Jessica will be there. We’ll have plenty of family.”

“Who’s going to walk me down the aisle?” The question was quiet, but it made Murphy’s heart break. He knew how much Craig had been looking forward to his parents being there. Hell, the only reason he was so stressed was because he wanted to make everything perfect to impress them, but now they weren’t.

Murphy gently squeezed Craig’s hand from across the table while Drew thought for a second. “It’ll be alright, man. Parent’s are shit, anyways. It’ll be less stressful without them there.”

Craig nodded, but he didn’t look convinced.

“I’ll do it.”

Craig looked at Drew with his eyebrows raised, “Do what?”

“Walk you down the aisle. I’ll do it.”

“You’re already my best man, you can’t just-”

“Why not?” Bellamy asked, finally joining the conversation.

“Because…” Craig trailed off with a shrug. “I don’t know. It would be weird.”

“Weirder than a guy in a dress? Weirder than a bar with sci-fi themed cocktails? Weirder than you in general?” Murphy asked, grinning.

Craig considered it for a moment before returning the grin, “Okay.”

“Yeah?” Drew asked.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” Craig nodded. That would work out just fine. Besides, Drew had always cared more about him than either of their parents ever had, so the honor should go to him. He’d been more of an influence in Craig’s upbringing than their parents, anyway.

“Great,” Drew smiled. “What color tie do you want me to wear?”

“Well, the colors are yellow and blue, but Murphy’s wearing blue, so I guess you should wear yellow.”

“What kind of yellow? Like, pastel, lemon, mustard?”

“Pastel, I think. That’s what we ordered everything as, anyway,” Craig shrugged, a little less interested in the details of the wedding now.

“What about an earpiece?” Drew asked, his finger on his chin.

“What?” Mbege looked at him, his brow furrowed.

“An earpiece. Like a secret agent. Can I wear one?” Drew explained.

“No. Absolutely not,” Mbege shook his head, cutting off a very enthusiastic looking Craig. “It’s a wedding, not a comic con. Play dress up on your own time.”

“Please?” Drew begged, causing Murphy to giggle.

“Yeah, come on, Begs. I’ll wear one, too. I’ll even carry a water gun,” Murphy snickered.

“No. Hell no. There will be no earpieces and especially no water guns at my wedding. You two buffoons can play cops and robbers after it’s over, but while the proceedings are going on, you will act like respectable adults,” Mbege demanded.

“Well, I’m afraid I’m not quite sure how to tell great aunt Vinnie that she can’t have her hearing aids. You know, since there’s no earpieces allowed. Maybe we should post a sign…” Drew pondered.

Mbege rolled his eyes and motioned for the chef to come over. He told him they were ready to begin whenever he was and turned back to the conversation. “You shitheads will behave or I’ll smuggle you on the plane in a suitcase and throw that suitcase in the volcano.”

“That’s murder, Begs. You can’t threaten to murder us! Bell’s a cop! He’ll arrest you! Won’t you, Bell?” Drew asked, causing the whole table’s attention to shift to Bellamy.

“Well, I can’t arrest him unless he shows real intent to do it. Otherwise it falls under free speech,” Bellamy grinned. To his surprise, Mbege grinned back.

“Oh, there’s intent, alright. One day these two fools will turn up missing and I’ll have an airtight alibi,” he laughed.

“I hope I don’t get that case,” Bellamy said. “Might be a little hard to explain how my boyfriend’s body turned up in your flower garden without your knowledge.”

“We’ll blame global warming,” Craig piped up.

“How?” Murphy asked, puzzled.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll figure a way to tie your death to it. Then we’ll bring awareness to it, show some absolute consequences. It’ll be a noble death for a noble cause,” Craig nodded sagely.

“You’re insane,” Murphy snorted, flicking water at him from the condensation on his cup.

Craig laughed and shrugged, “Yeah, probably.”

The conversation fell to a lull for a moment as the baker brought out a tray with several cake samples along with plates and forks and set them on the table. They thanked him and he smiled as he left them to their tasting.

Mbege passed out the plates and forks while Craig swiped a bit of icing off of a pink cake, grinning when Mbege playfully swatted at the back of his head.

“What? It tastes good,” Craig laughed.

“Yeah?” Mbege grinned. “That the strawberry one?”

“I think so. You should taste it.”

“I will, once it’s been cut and served like proper adults do,” Mbege said pointedly.

“Or you could just do this,” Craig said, placing a hand on Mbege’s face.

“Do what?” Mbege asked, letting Craig pull him in. “Oh, that. Yeah, okay. That works.”

Craig rolled his eyes as he pressed a kiss to Mbege’s lips, gentle and sweet and so very loving that it made Bellamy want to turn away, because he felt like he was intruding on something incredibly private.

Craig smiled as he pulled away, he wasn’t sure how much was too much for Mbege, since he wasn’t the biggest fan of public displays, but it was one of the few physical things Craig was fond of, so, in private, when it was just them, they did it often, but Craig never got sick of it. “So?”

“Good, yeah,” Mbege nodded, a little dumbstruck. Every time Craig kissed him he got the same feeling, awe mixed with butterflies and this overwhelming urge to pull him close and never let him go. He would have, had they not been in public. He knew Craig was alright with that and he was, too, they’d talked about it shortly after getting together, but it was rare he did it in public. But, considering they were mainly surrounded by friends, he didn’t mind at all.

“You two are cheesy as fuck, you know that, right?” Drew asked, pulling the tray over to him so he could cut and serve the cakes, since Mbege seemed too distracted by staring at Craig to do it. “So, how far did you two get with the interrogation?”

Murphy gave Drew a look of confusion.

“Oh, they invited you two here so they could grill you about your relationship. It’s why I invited myself. To referee, just in case,” Drew explained. “That, and I wanted cake.”

Murphy nodded and Bellamy put his arm around him. “They didn’t even start, actually,” Murphy told him, leaning into Bellamy.

“Good. Then I did get here on time,” Drew said, nodding to himself. He placed a slice of the pink cake on everyone’s plate before settling back into his seat.

“We weren’t going to _interrogate_ them,” Craig said, exasperated.

Drew shrugged and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully. “Decent. Not the best, would be better if it was chocolate cake, but it’s alright. So, Murphy, how are things between you two?”

Murphy gave Drew a look that showed exactly how he felt about him turning traitor but Drew just raised his hands in surrender, so Murphy answered, “We’re fine. I got all moved in and settled and Bellamy’s been kind enough to put up with my bullshit for the past few weeks, but I don’t imagine that’ll last too long.”

“What bullshit?” Bellamy asked, raising an eyebrow at Murphy. “There’s been nothing that qualifies as ‘bullshit.’”

“Me joining you in the shower in the morning and making you late for work. Me bitching out your coffee maker because it’s slow as a snail chained to a fencepost, me reorganizing your move collection by genre, instead of alphabetically. I could go on,” Murphy told him, taking a bite of his own cake. “I agree with Drew. Should be chocolate.”

“That’s not bullshit. I don’t mind the shower thing, it’s why I’ve started getting up half an hour earlier. My coffee maker isn’t slow, you’re just impatient, but it’s funny watching you threaten it with a butter knife, that’s a fun way to start the morning. And my movie collection was a mess. I admit, it’s much easier to find things now. See? No bullshit.”

Murphy snorted as Bellamy tried his cake. “Yeah, well, just wait. You’ll find something I do that pisses you off.”

“I highly doubt it. But, I think the next one we try should be chocolate. Just to see if it lives up to the frosting. The vanilla’s fine, but it’s a little lackluster when paired with the strawberry.

“Just ask Mbege. I’m a pain in the ass after a while.”

Mbege jerked his head up from where he’d been whispering in Craig’s ear, making him laugh. “What about me?”

“I said that you think I’m a pain in the ass,” Murphy told him, poking at the rest of the cake slice with his fork, scraping the icing off and setting it to the side.

“I never said that!” Mbege defended himself.

“Bullshit! You’ve said it a million times,” Murphy shot back.

Mbege frowned a bit and shrugged, “Well, yeah, but I don’t know the context of this particular accusation.”

“That’s because you weren’t paying attention,” Murphy accused. “But, I said that I’m a pain in the ass to live with.”

“Not really. Just don’t let him stay up past two, don’t let him near your stove unsupervised, and don’t feed him after midnight and you’re all good,” Mbege said with a grin.

“I can cook!” Murphy said.

“Yeah, I know. But only when someone’s there to remind your easily distracted ass to stir things. Or not to leave water boiling while you play Mario Kart for half an hour until you scorch one of my good pans,” Mbege said.

“Life is interesting. Staring at a pot for ten minutes is not,” Murphy crossed his arms and pouted.

Bellamy chuckled and pressed a kiss to the side of his head, “It’s alright, babe. I know you can cook. I also know you left a dishrag on the burner, too, so, I mean, I think you both have valid points.”

Murphy just huffed and frowned, “Can we try a chocolate one now?”

“I think that would be the one covered in chocolate frosting?” Drew asked Mbege.

“Yeah, that one’s chocolate and the other is chocolate with orange frosting. Oh! And it doesn’t matter what color the icing is because the fondant will be blue with yellow flowers,” Mbege told them all.

“Pretty,” Murphy says, like he hadn’t helped pick out the cake design, helping Craig sketch it out on paper before brining it to the bakery.

“Shut up,” Craig snorted.

Drew passed around slices of the second cake, the chocolate with chocolate frosting and asked, “So, you’re all moved in and things are going good? What now?”

“Now, we enjoy what we have until we’re ready for something else,” Bellamy said, taking a bite of the cake.

Murphy’s blood turned to ice. Something else? Did that mean Bellamy saw them breaking up?

Luckily for him, Drew asked, “Something else as in marriage?”

Bellamy bit his lip, looking over at Murphy who was looking up at him, a little worried. “Well, yeah? If Murphy still wants me by the time we’re ready for that.”

Murphy relaxed. “I will. I’m always going to want you.”

“Oh, look at you assholes in your happy relationships,” Drew scoffed.

“You should let me set you up with this guy I know,” Bellamy said, thinking of Wells. He thought they’d be a good match. Wells had a thing for flamboyant personalities, though you’d never know it unless you knew him as well as Bellamy did. And since they’d been friends since grade school, he was pretty sure he knew him enough to think Drew a proper match.

“I’m actually straight,” Drew said with a sigh.

“Heteroflexible,” Murphy corrected. “Which means you can at least give it a try. Invite him to the wedding.”

Drew considered it for a moment before shrugging, “Alright. But I make no promises. I’ve got an invitation in my bag. Actually, I’ve got yours and Murphy’s, too.” He dug around in his messenger bag for a moment before pulling out a couple of envelopes. He handed them to Bellamy.

“Yours and Murphy’s specifies you two, instead of just a plus one, but I had to fight Craig for that, so be thankful.”

Murphy smiled at him and took their envelope when Bellamy handed it to him. “Thanks.”

“Of course, Murph. Now, I think the chocolate’s good.”

“Bit overpowering with the whole chocolate on chocolate thing,” Murphy said. He scraped off some of the icing and cut a chunk of the cake off, covering it in the strawberry icing he’d saved. He tasted that and smiled. “Yeah, the strawberry’s better with chocolate.”

Bellamy took a bit of the cake Murphy had put together on his own fork, tasting it before nodding in agreement. “Much better.”

They all tried the combination, taking the icing from what was left of the strawberry cake and the chocolate, each coming to the decision that it was better that way.

“We’ve got one left to try, I don’t think it’ll be as good, but it’s here, so we may as well,” Mbege said, serving the cake. “Now, Murphy, have you and Bellamy actually talked about marriage or is it a new conversation?”

“It’s new, but I’d be okay with discussing it one day,” Murphy shrugged, taking a bite of the orange cake.

Bellamy smiled and pressed another kiss to Murphy’s head, feeling happier than he thought he could. He might actually get a chance to have Murphy forever one day. That was more than he ever could have hoped for. He loved him more than he could put into words, so the thought of being able to marry him was an incredible one that made him want to pull him close and never let him go. He settled for pressing his leg against Murphy’s under the table, getting as close to him as he could where they were while Murphy tilted his head to press a kiss to Bellamy’s cheek.

Yeah, he wanted to marry Murphy one day, if he got the chance. But it would have to be the right time and honestly, he wasn’t sure when that would be. Of course, Murphy had only said he was open to discussing it, not that he wanted it, but Bellamy was going to take what he could get. Maybe he’d get lucky one day. But, until then, he was just happy to have Murphy in any way he could.

._-*-_.

“There’s a woman at your desk and she refuses to talk to anyone else,” Miller informed Bellamy the second he came back up from Jasper’s sanctum, case files in one hand and Murphy trailing behind him, rambling about how Drew had forced them to watch at least five different wedding-centric films this past week and how Murphy was about to skip town until the night of, so he didn’t have to deal with anymore shitty movies.

Murphy cut off when he and Bellamy got to Bellamy’s desk where a young, dark haired woman sat, nervously playing with the lace on the sleeve of her blouse.

The woman looked up when Bellamy sat down, asking, “Detective Blake?”

“The one and only,” Murphy said cheerfully, perching on the side of the desk, interested in whatever was about to happen.

“And we thank God for that,” Monroe grumbled as she sat down, coffee in hand, having just returned from Kane’s office to inquire about a new case. “And you are?”

“I’m Maya. Maya Vie. I was told you’re the best in the city?” she asked, looking from Monroe to Murphy and then focusing on Bellamy.

“Don’t stroke his ego, he’s already a pain in the ass to deal with,” Monroe groaned, rolling her eyes.

Bellamy couldn’t keep the smile off his face, even though he was trying to fight it. “I’m not sure about that. What can I help you with?”

Maya frowned and twisted the lace around her fingers, “I have a case for you, maybe, if you’ll take it. I don’t know who else to ask and when I came in they directed me here. And Jasper, uh, Jasper Jordan? He’s a friend of mine and he talks very highly of you and when I told him I thought something was going on at my work he said to tell you, but I wasn’t sure there was anything that could be done so I didn’t. But now I’ve got to tell someone. They have to be stopped.”

“That’s certainly not ominous at all,” Murphy muttered under his breath, smirking at Monroe who threw a paperclip at him.

Bellamy glared at the two of them for a moment before inviting Maya to go on, “It’s alright. I’ll try to help you as best I can. Just tell me what’s happening. Where do you work?”

“Mount Weather Hospital. I’m a nurse there,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It’s going to sound really weird and a little bit crazy, but I know it’s happening and something has to be done.”

“Tell me what you think it happening, then,” Bellamy prompted, pulling out a notepad and a pen.

“I think- No, I know my bosses are stealing organs,” Maya blurted out.

Murphy sat up a little straighter and Monroe cocked an eyebrow, both immediately interested. Bellamy simply nodded and wrote something down on his notepad before urging her to continue.

“They’re taking organs from dead patients who haven’t consented to be organ donors,” she said.

Murphy frowned, a little disappointed that they weren’t stealing them from living people, or at the least, coma patients, but he couldn’t say he was completely against taking them from non-donor patients as long as it saved lives.

“And, honestly, I wouldn’t have even reported it because those organs can save so many lives and nobody ever knows, and they’re already dead, but-” she cut off and bit her lip.

Murphy nodded in agreement and Bellamy wanted to smack him because, regardless of intent, it was still illegal and he was not allowed to agree with illegal behaviors. Jesus Christ, Murphy. But he didn’t. Instead he nodded, too, and said, “But what, Ms. Vie?”

“Maya, please,” Maya said, almost as though it was a reflex. She shook her head and continued, “The only reason I’m even bringing this to you is because they aren’t using them to help people, they’re just selling them to the rich so that they can get off of waiting lists sooner. They aren’t helping anyone. People are literally dying and all they care about is money. It’s corrupt and disgusting but that’s not even the worst part.”

By this point Murphy was hanging on to every word and Monroe had pulled out her own notepad, presumably taking down anything she found relevant, but when Murphy peaked at it, it looked more like a cartoon of Bellamy in a superhero costume that was undoubtedly sarcastic in nature. Murphy had to admit, as far as doodles went, it wasn’t bad.

“They’re also bumping people up on the waiting lists as long as they can pay bribes and it’s sick. I’ve watched four people die this week because of it and something needs to be done. I just don’t have any proof, so I’m not sure you’ll even take me seriously.”

“I take you very seriously, Maya. We’ll look into it. Do you work tomorrow?” Bellamy asked, having already decided he was going to take the case.

“I do.”

“Monroe and I will come by early tomorrow morning and check some things out. We’ll have a cover so we can poke around, but it might be best if you’re somewhere else at that time. Just so nobody suspects you have anything to do with it,” Bellamy told her, giving her a reassuring smile. “We’ll find something to go on and go from there. But I believe you and we will stop them, I promise.”

Monroe rolled her eyes and showed the drawing to Murphy who snorted. “Nice. I think the head’s a little small, though.”

“There’s not enough room on the page for it to be to scale,” Monroe said dryly.

Bellamy thanked Maya and escorted her out of the station, reassuring her the whole way and Murphy couldn’t stop the sappy grin that found its way onto his face at the sight of his boyfriend being so gentle and caring. He was good at his job and Murphy loved to be around so he could watch him do it.

As soon as Bellamy was back, Murphy was practically in his lap asking questions about what he planned to do.

“Calm down, it’s nothing serious yet. All we’re doing is going there to investigate, poke around, turn over some rocks and see if anything crawls out. It’s not some secret mission,” Bellamy laughed, pulling Murphy down onto his lap.

“Yeah, but can I ride along? Please?” Murphy begged, still bouncing around as he read through Bellamy’s notes from the conversation.

“Don’t you always?” Bellamy sighed, amused.

Well, not always, because Murphy had been quite busy with his job and apartment search, but when he had the time, Bellamy had let him ride along to a few of the less dangerous places. Murphy only took interest in anything involving human rights breaches, though. But, still, when he asked, Bellamy rarely said no. And Kane had said nothing when he’d seen Murphy coming back with Monroe and him and Bellamy had told him they’d gone for lunch, so Bellamy assumed he either didn’t care or hadn’t caught on to the fact that they didn’t go to lunch twice that day.

“Yes,” Murphy grinned.

“Okay, then.”

“You're the best!”

Bellamy rolled his eyes, but tightened his grip on Murphy, “I know.”

Murphy turned his head so he could press a kiss to Bellamy’s jaw, “I love you.”

Bellamy just chuckled, “I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! You cats are great and I'm sorry this was so late. I'm going to try to get back on a proper update schedule again within the next couple of chaps. Just depends on what I have time for and whether or not I get distracted again.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not currently on tumblr atm, still not sure if I'm going back, since I removed myself from the fandom completely and I'm not sure how much of the fandom is left, but you can shot me a message on here if you've got a request or something, but it may take a while as I go through my backlog of plotted fics and whatnot.


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